Tag Archive for Organization

My interview tips

20 June 2012 Rachel Career, Employability, Featured, Features, Human Resources One comment
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The other week I made an admission about liking writing CVs, well here is another weird one, I also like interviews. When you think about them they are a bizarre event, two parties saying why they would be great for each other. Perhaps it is the pressure, having to think through scenarios, but something means I enjoy the experience.

What qualifies me to write this? Have I got every job I have interviewed for? No, but I have sat on both sides of the table, had interviews go wrong and others go really well. I wanted to share the things I have learnt, they will not work for everyone.

Before getting into my tips I think it is important to make the point that if you do not get the job do not take it personally. We live in an employers market and this means they can be fussy, rather than not getting a job reflecting on your weaknesses it is more likely to represent the strength of another candidate. Not everyone gets their dream job, so we dust ourselves off and move on.

Now for my top 4 tips:

1) Preparation

Preparing for an interview is essential, there are many different techniques that work for people and we have to find what works best for us individually. Things to prepare can include organising your portfolio, showcasing your most relevant work; listing your key qualities and identifying weaknesses, I have seen this preparation go as far as writing out possible interview questions and answers. That may be a bit far for some, however the important point that you walk into the room feeling confident and ready to shine.

2) Research

Research is a part of preparation but it is so important that it deserves its own tip. There is nothing worse than being in an interview room, asked a question related to the organisation and being unable to answer it, it looks pretty bad as well. Research an organisation as much as possible, learn everything you can about them. The more you learn, the less likely they are to ask (in my experience!) and that is far preferable to not knowing something.

Take research a step forward and make a case study on part of the organisation, for example how they have launched a product. I have seen people have great success with this technique, and even if you do not share it with your interviewer it will help you gain a better understanding of the organisation.

3) Don’t worry about being perfect

As I have said, interviews are bizarre. We may think that the interviewer is expecting perfect answers, the reality is that they are not. You do not have to say the first thing in your head, you can take a moment to think about your answer. Although taking too long can start to look bad!

Interviews are also designed to test you in different ways, for example to see how you react under pressure. Try to remain as unflustered and calm as possible, remember that the interview is all a show, so play it well.

4) Be yourself

We may hear it all the time, but it is true. Do not walk into the interview room pretending to be someone else because that rarely works. I once went to an interview on crutches having fractured my ankle two days before, I had no expectation of getting the job but I felt it was too late to cancel, the result was I entered that room without the nerves or pretence that I might have, and the feedback showed my personality shone through.

 

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Managing a social media micro-crisis

29 February 2012 Rachel Communications, News, Nottingham, Social Media 3 comments

The social media communications revolution is already happening and organisations need to ensure that they are reacting efficiently to this important development in communications.

While in many cases we can take advantage of the opportunities that social media offers, there are also some significant disadvantages including the micro-crisis. Take for example the case of Beeston Wilkos, in summary the shop is due to close shortly due to redevelopment and the local community is upset due to the loss of jobs and one of the town’s favourite shops. Previously for a situation such as this a letter to the local paper and small petition would suffice, but today we see blogging armies and social media swarms. And this is how a micro-crisis is caused.

In the case of Beeston, local blogger Beestonia has taken up the campaign, taking charge of updating the local community of developments not only of his campaigning but those of the local council and Wilkos Head Office. This has resulted in huge local community support, with 3000 signatures on the petition, and coverage from local media.

How should Wilkos be responding to this issue? I would guess that they did not anticipate such a fight back from the local community, and we cannot expect a large organisation to understand the significance that they have in each of their stores, it is not practical. However, I dare say their reaction to this case is not ideal. For example at the moment the most reliable source for information on on the situation is Beestonia, in fact while trying to search for a statement from Wilko’s Head Office I found myself on the Beestonia blog! Other than finding a quote about their commitment to their Beeston store, there is very little official Wilkos presence.

It is important to remember that while this situation may feel like the end of the world for Beeston residents, it is just one of many issues Wilkos will currently be dealing with, however there are actions that they can take to improve relations in Beeston. For example, I would suggest that they work with the Beestonia blog to release information, correct any speculation or incomplete information on the blog and engage with their consumer. An example of an organisation doing this well can be seen on Michael White’s blog, he wrote about his dissatisfaction with the services of CIPR student membership, the CIPR promptly replied, reacted to his opinions and as a result have already increased their student membership numbers. All of this occurred while the Wilko’s story has been happening, which shows just how quickly social media allows you to react.

Dealing with a micro-crisis requires much of the skills of dealing with larger crisises, here are five steps that can be used to help manage the situation:

  1. Anticipate a crisis and be proactive. This is the ideal situation, although not always practical. However if your organisation is about to carry out an action that may have adverse reactions (think Tesco workforce) then it is best to already be prepared to explain your actions before people react negatively to them.
  2. Monitor social media. Use the wide range of tools that allow you to see what is being said about you online, this means that you will be able to get an idea of current issues and how your customers’ currently think of you. As a result you can spot micro-crisises in their early state and quickly react.
  3. React quickly. If you can help it do not allow a situation to escalate, try and deal with it at an early point.
  4. Communicate with bloggers. Bloggers have a lot of power online and this means they can be your best friend and worst enemy. In many cases bloggers like to share stories that will interest their readers so they will often be open to hearing from your organisation. You can also use their comment section to engage with their readers, by reacting to their comments.
  5. Have a social media presence. Social media has become the first place many people turn when looking for local news, as a result it is important in a micro-crisis to use this platform to engage and react to your local consumers. This can help avoid the dangerous speculation which is likely otherwise.

Consumers now expect organisations to have a social media presence and to react to their problems, something Claire Hodson wrote about recently. I think it is important not to disappoint them in this respect, never underestimate how powerful social media is and it can be used for the good, and bad of your organisation.

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How can we control social media?

9 January 2012 Rachel Communications, Human Resources, Internal Communications, News, Social Media 2 comments
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Reading about the social media restrictions placed on Olympic volunteers had me thinking about the ways we can control the information that is shared on social media.

Social media has encouraged us to share our lives openly with many people but there are things that organisations can not have shared for a variety of reasons from security to competition.

How do we control information that has been unofficially put on social media? The simple answer is inevitably it is extremely difficult, but there are two important approaches that can be taken, proactive and reactive.

Proactive: Naturally it is important to ensure as an organisation that you have policies in place to ensure that staff or individuals know precisely what they can share and what information is prohibited. Most organisations have these in place but there is plenty of advice on compiling such a policy. As we know the online world moves very quickly so it is important to ensure that the policy is regularly reviewed and updated.

Reactive: I also believe it is important to have an official presence on social media platforms. If a fact is released which is inaccurate this source can react and correct the mistake. In other cases when information is released without permission while they may not be able to prevent it, it does mean that the organisation may receive the news sooner and therefore have more time to react. A social media presence does not necessarily have to be an active poster, it could simply be used to monitor information for use during a crisis or as an aid for general organisation activity.

The two approaches are most effective when combined. Human nature means we love to share information and therefore even if an individual is aware of a policy and the repercussions of sharing information they may still not behave as desired. In this case it is important to be able to react effectively.

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Social Media and Internal Communications

12 December 2011 Rachel Communications, Human Resources, Interests, Internal Communications, Social Media One comment
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It would be fair to say that social media has changed the way we communicate and it looks set to continue to create Zuckerberg‘s vision of an open and connected world.

While many people have let social media into the personal areas of their lives I think it is important to embrace the technology and look at how we can utilise it in other areas of our lives in the mission to create this open and connected world.

This is a hot topic at the moment, particularly after Atos announced ambitions of a workplace free of internal email. It is also something I am very interested in personally, being a perfect combination of two of my interests, HR and social media.

Naturally some organisations are hesitant in contemplating giving up some of the technologies they have come to rely upon and adopting social media inspired systems, however there are some obvious benefits in such a change.

There is nothing more frustrating than not knowing about something that affects you and in the workplace this can lead to disgruntled employees. Well designed internal communication systems can ensure that staff are notified of matters concerning them, from job opportunities, to events, to changes in contracts. The nature of social media means that staff are able to have conversations about these matters which can help an organisation understand the opinions of their workforce.

Intranets have been the most popular choice of system for sharing knowledge and while I would not dream of indicating they are redundant, they can certainly be improved by social media tools. For example an organisation could create a wiki style system allowing all employees to submit additions or edits to articles for approval. Alternatively if an employee is struggling to understand a topic or task even after reading an article they could post a question in a forum where anyone in the organisation would be able to offer feedback.

When an organisation is spread across different units nationally or even internationally it can lose its company identity. Social media is able to reinstall this identity. It allows easy communication between teams who may have never even met and allows a constant connection to the heart of the organisation, be that in the Head Office or another unit.

One of the most inspiring men I know is the director of a medium sized organisation. Speaking to him it is impossible not to understand his vision for the organisation and be motivated to achieve better results. Everyone who speaks has a conversation with him respects him and believes in his passion, unfortunately the logistics of the organisation mean that while he is dedicated to his staff team there is not always the opportunity to talk to all of them individually. I believe one solution to this would be for him to write a blog available to all the organisation’s staff, allowing his message to reach and inspire everyone. Social media brings down barriers meaning that he could have conversations with his staff even when he cannot meet his staff.

A very important aspect of social media is monitoring conversation and opinion. Within the workplace this can be used to see reactions to announcements or blog posts. It can be used to see how many staff are accessing company newsletters, or looking at job opportunities. There are many ways an organisation can monitor usage and get an improved understanding of their organisation’s people.

There are also potentially significant financial benefits as demonstrated by this article from Simply-Communicate, these systems return on their investment through saving on costs such as printing and recruitment.

Obviously it is important to be careful when introducing social media into the workplace, a model such as Facebook or Twitter is more likely to cause loss of productivity. It is important that a system based on social media is designed for maximum productivity and minimum distraction.

Social media is not a completely new tool in the internal communication’s toolbox, rather it is a natural progression of the current tools such as internal emails and intranets. I think it is important to look at using the successes of social media to continue the development and effectiveness of internal communications. The possibilities of how we can utilise social media seem endless and with innovation and development we could certainly see some beneficial changes within our internal communications.

Does your organisation use social media in their internal communications strategy?

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How to find a placement

17 October 2011 Rachel Communications, Education, Placements, Public Relations 2 comments
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One of the best ways to supplement your university education is to find a placement for some real world experience. I do not know one person who has regretted a placement, even if it turned out they learnt they were in the wrong industry.

Most placement opportunities are not advertised and it is up for students to seek them out. I have had two contradicting methods of finding placements recommended so I will look at the advantages and disadvantages of both of them. Do note that both methods have resulted in placements and both have been recommended by equally reliable sources.

Call then email

Calling an organisation will let you know immediately if it is worth sending your CV to them. You can email 100 CVs out to 100 companies who are not interested in placement students and you have wasted a large amount of time. However a quick call can confirm whether they have a suitable opportunity.

Calling can also get you speaking to the right person, when you apply for a placement there is no point contacting a staff member who has no say over work experience, you want to speak directly to the right person and you can find out who this is with a quick call.

On the other hand every organisation I have personally worked for tends to be very busy and they do not necessarily have the time to talk to cold callers. While they may be quite happy to discuss placement opportunities with you at certain times, at other times it may be inappropriate and you could find yourself cut off by the receptionist.

Email then call

Another method is to email out CVs and covering letters to local organisations you are interested in and then calling them after a period of time, such as a week, to see if they have any interest in you as a placement student.

This method allows companies to do things in their own times, they can decide if you are suitable looking at your CV before speaking to you. And if you do not hear back from them, you are able to call them knowing your CV will be on their system.

The disadvantage of this is that the majority of your applications will be ignored, they may fall into a junk folder or else be skimmed over and forgotten. It also involves you writing out a large number of covering letters, I believe it is very important to personalise each covering letter, so if you apply to 20 different organisations that’s a lot of covering letters with no guarantee they are even looking for someone.

I find both methods have distinct advantages and disadvantages and it probably depends upon the organisations preference which method will be most effective.
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Guest Lecture: Kevin Murray

12 October 2011 Rachel Communications, Education, Public Relations, Social Media No comments
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There are a few key elements to a successful; attendees are constantly engaged, they take lots of notes and emerge from the lecture hall feeling inspired and education. On top of this a twitter buzz is also a very good sign!

With a nasty cold I was somewhat reluctant to delay my journey home to hot chicken soup and Lemsip for Monday’s guest lecture but I am glad that I did because as it turned out Kevin Murray was a brilliant and fascinating speaker.

Kevin Murray’s lecture was based on his new book, The Language of Leaders, an insight into how the top leaders in the country manage to engage and inspire to reach their results.

An important thing he highlighted was the role of online communication in our current world, the way that one person can cause a storm online and cause an organisation huge problems within moments. While in the past an organisation may have had an idea that this was coming, now someone they have never heard of can instantly attack them with absolutely no warning and they need to be prepared.

He also spoke of how it was managers inspire their staff, this is of personal interest to me as I have a big appreciation for HR and internal communication. He talked of how it is important for management and company directors to be able to motivate their staff and the most effective way is through passion. In my previous job I used to regularly speak to the directors and after every conversation it was impossible not to feel completely inspired and understand the organisation’s aims and goals. This is the passion that all organisations need to pass to all their staff, from the directors to the cleaners. The only way to change people’s behaviour is through making them want to change.

The lecture went on for nearly the entire hour and all the way through Kevin Murray kept it interesting and relevant. Afterwards feedback on Twitter showed just how much everyone had enjoyed his lecture. The rest of the upcoming guest lectures look to be very good, let’s hope they live up to Kevin Murray.

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They didn’t even send me a rejection letter!

20 April 2011 Rachel Career, Communications, Featured, Human Resources, Public Relations 7 comments
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Job hunting is rarely an enjoyable activity and it can be made all the more stressful when the application you spent hours working on remains unacknowledged and seemingly ignored. When this happens many times over even your most enthusiastic job hunter can feel disheartened and even bitter.

This is the issue facing may HR departments particularly during periods of high applications. It is vital to remember that more than merely not offering a job to an unsatisfactory candidate but also communicating with a stakeholder; a potential customer or perhaps even a future employee. The communication that they receive will shape their opinions of the organisation.

It is by no means a simple task as I well know from my experience working with the HR department of a small growing organisation. In fact it is actually far more complicated that many people could imagine. We were lucky enough to be in the position of being able to recruit during the recession and this led to huge numbers of applications for each job advertised.

There are two types of rejection I will look at, rejecting post-interview and rejecting without interview.

It is bad practise to interview a candidate and not inform them of the outcome. I once experienced this after interviewing at a local cafe, they promised me a call within the week which never materialised and as a result of this I boycotted the cafe. I am not alone in this practise, and while I cannot find the article now, I did read that companies are at risk of losing customers through not telling unsuccessful candidates that they have been rejected.

At the organisation I worked at we would send all unsuccessful candidates a rejection letter as soon as a recruitment decision was made. If feedback was requested we also sought to provide it as soon as possible. They may have not been suitable at the time but they still form an opinion of your company which is important to manage, and also in a couple of years they may apply for another job at the organisation for which they are ideal.

Ideally an organisation would be able to provide feedback for every application they receive but in reality this is not possible. During a recruitment drive we could fill two arch lever files with just unsuccessful candidates, that is in excess of 100 candidates for just a handful of jobs. As an organisation we did seek to inform candidates that we would not be taking their application to interview however practically with 100s of applications this is very difficult and potentially very costly.

The head of HR at the organisation was very keen to maintain good communication with all candidates and while I worked there I designed systems to ensure we could maximise our communication abilities. Were we always successful? I dare say we were not!

Soon, if not already, school, college and university leavers will be applying for jobs to try and begin their career. No doubt many will come across this situation, and please do not let it dishearten you, think positive and good luck!

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