7 Steps Which Can Improve Workplace Diversity For Free

7 Steps Which Can Improve Workplace Diversity For Free First of all what does a diverse workforce mean and why is it important? If youre looking to improve diversity in the workplace its essential to understand this! Before being involved in a diversity scheme I had a perception  that diversity programs were introduced to improve male to female and ethnic ratios. Actually, diversity goes far beyond that its about ensuring that you include people from as many walks of life,  at different stages in their life / career who draw on diverse experiences! So now that we know diversity means so much more than a set of traits  how do we make sure we are attracting a wide pool  of potential candidates and providing an environment which will make them want to stay? Here are some top tips: 1. Improve  your adverts Make sure you create job adverts which have less fixed requirements. For example, research shows that  women (typically)  feel they need to hit (close to) 100% of the job experience requirements before applying for a job, whilst men require a much lower match to feel confident in applying. This means that if youre putting out a long list of must haves you are probably immediately discounting a large pool of potential candidates. Instead,  describe any areas of support and development which can be offered. Women, typically are not as self promoting and are put off by wordings such as rockstar or best of the best so make sure you steer clear of words like that. In general, describing an atmosphere which promotes values and loyalty above freebies will attract a larger candidate pool. 2.  Remove subconscious bias So once youve got candidates to apply how do you make sure youre giving them the best chance to succeed? You need to understand that natural bias is a thing!  We are naturally  drawn to people that  we think are  similar to ourselves and tend to lean towards  people that share the same opinion or have the same likes and dislikes. By developing  a structure to your hiring process which requires set interview questions for every interviewee you can look to limit unconscious bias towards potential employees and this is important if you want to hire a diverse range of candidates. Try to neutralise subconscious bias my ensuring  that more than one member of staff interviews any potential candidate separately and  correlate scoring before commenting on things like personal fit. 3.Introduce a buddy up scheme Great, now youve hired a good candidate! But what is going to make them want to stay?   Buddy up new starters with a member of staff that has been with the company  for a while.  This is  great for allowing employees to speak informally about particular areas (of concern) which they might not feel comfortable voicing (for example: if a female new starter has a male line manager there may be certain things they dont feel comfortable speaking  about). Its important that this scheme is completely informal and its made clear that conversations are completely confidential. The buddy should be there to mentor and help the employee develop and settle in their role and look to reduce potential drop outs. 4. Cater incentives Try to create  incentives which  are actually incentivising all of your employees (for example a drink at the end of the day isnt going to appeal to many individuals and actually excludes some individuals due to religious beliefs). Not sure what incentivises your staff? Ask them what they would like to see  and build individual incentive programs. Some employees might not feel confident asking for incentives so make sure you come armed with suggestions to encourage them. 5. Create diversity inclusion champions Celebrate employees who champion diversity and inclusion elect them to spearhead your office/team. This isnt always easy to do, if you dont have employees that dont buy in to the idea, start by educating them. Run workshops, or event based days (sales days etc) which have a particular focus on diversity. Many companies now allow diversity champions work into promotion credits this is great as it will allow you to put tangible targets in place which you can work together to achieve. 6. Celebrate diversity  wins Shout about diversity, your wins, your champions and how it has benefited the business! Ensure that its clear from your website/job description/interview material that this is something which you are really invested in and discuss with potential employees. At the same time, be careful not to highlight members of staff based solely  on matters of diversity. This is extremely important to ensure that youre not creating a divide in the workplace, create speculation of positive discrimination and that you arent making employees self-conscious! 7. Educate your employees Part of the biggest challenge in any organisation is getting your employees to understand what diversity is and why its important. There are many  misinformed opinions about what building a diverse workforce actually means and the benefits which it has on an organisations workforce. Create an education program with workshops and get your employees to openly discuss questions they have about diversity!

The Provisions in the Law Regarding Work at Home Activities

The Provisions in the Law Regarding Work at Home ActivitiesIf you are a current or aspiring employee looking for a job in the software industry, you will need to understand the provisions in the law that govern work at home activities and prepare yourself with some of the most basic steps in preparing a cover letter and resume. This article explains the provisions in the law and provides some helpful tips for preparing a cover letter and resume.Work at home software is very popular and the number of companies interested in hiring you has probably grown over the past year. You can now apply for jobs that you might have been unable to get before, thanks to the Internet. Your success in the field will depend on how well you prepare your resume and cover letter. It is extremely important that you keep these documents up to date, even if you use online submission of your applications.The Uniform Trade Secrets Act (UTSA) gives full legal protection to work at home software companies from c ompetitors who may try to make unauthorized use of their products. You cannot claim that your work is done from home even if you receive compensation through the use of such software. Because your employer needs you to be physically present in the country you live in to be able to provide your product and service, it is not considered home-based work. Therefore, it is not possible to include your work at home activities as part of your personal records and it is also illegal to disclose this information to a prospective employer or any other third party.Another provision in the UTSSA stipulates that no employment agency or business relationship exists between you and your employer during the first two years after you leave your job. You can, however, enter into contracts and agreements with your employers, providing that they comply with the UTSSA.The UTSSA does not specifically refer to online business, but there are some other provisions that deal with the kind of work that you ca n do as an employee. In most cases, the UTSSA only applies to personal work activities carried out outside the working hours of the company. It is best to consult with a lawyer about this subject, if possible. It is also important to keep your documentation free of any reference to your employer's name or logo.Finally, your employer is not allowed to use your personal computer to access the company's website. In some cases, there are exceptions that allow you to use a laptop for work related purposes. Your work at home software may be required by your employer to be installed on the same machine as your personal computer, which is also important.Once you have read this article, you should have some basic rules to follow in order to follow the rules of the law. There are many other rules to follow in order to avoid any problems later on. As always, you should always protect yourself by using caution and common sense when dealing with your employer.If you think that this is the first time you are dealing with the entire law, then it is safe to say that you are still a novice in the field. If you think that you know what the laws state, then you are not ready to be in the field. The employer has the right to insist on security clearances, and you should be ready to comply with this order even though it may be annoying.

Write to Remember

Write to Remember The arrival of tablet technology (iPad, Samsung and others) has made it easier than ever to use your tablet as a one stop device. Many people use tablets to take notes in meetings or in class because typing your notes makes them more readable and easier to store, email, and share. But you may be missing out on the considerable benefit of handwriting your notes. I know what you’re thinking: aren’t you the girl who just wrote that the handwritten thank you may be finished? Yes. But that was about communicating; this is about learning. A recent study published in  Psychological Science  found that participants who took notes by hand in the study retained more of the information they had received. In part, that’s because we are so much more inefficient when we write by hand. Students who took notes on the laptop were basically transcribing the lecture, says Princeton University  psychological scientist  Pam Mueller, lead author of the study. Because we write by hand less quickly, those who took notes with pen and paper had to be more selective, choosing the most important information to include in their notes. This enabled them to study the content more efficiently. You also use more areas of your brain when you listen to a lecture (or instructions) and write at the same time. You activate both the language center, which is paying attention to what’s being said, and the part of the brain that creates spatial relationships.  Writing is also a form of visualization, which can help you mentally rehearse steps in a process. Your notes serve as a way to mindfully practice the steps of solving a problem. This effect is amplified even more if you are a doodler. Doodlers often illustrate their notes with drawings and directional icons like arrows that show how ideas are related or ordered. The act of thinking about what ideas matter most and which are connected helps you to synthesize and deepen your retention of the material. Doodling adds real power to your memory. A 2009 study conducted by the Plymouth (UK) School of Psychology  asked 40 participants to listen to a monotonous mock telephone message with the names of people coming to a party. Half of the group was randomly assigned to a ‘doodling’ condition where they shaded printed shapes while listening to the telephone call. The doodling group performed better on the monitoring task and recalled 29% more information on a surprise memory test. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ddQt5dB5ROl0r2plXJfXDg',sig:'FSf9uUznUrRj49zmwkIQEich5sVhhUn4NamSo4JyM-I=',w:'506px',h:'338px',items:'103057996',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Some scientists are concerned that young children are losing some of this vital brain activity as handwriting is being replaced by typing at a younger and younger age. A  2012 study  led by  Karin James, a psychologist at  Indiana University, found that the inherent messiness of young children’s handwriting serves an important purpose: it teaches them that every variation of a letter is still the same letter. No matter how shaky or crooked your five year old’s letter G is, it’s still a G. If they only see the typewritten version, they may not recognize other variations. The study also found that children who hand wrote   produced more words more quickly than they did on a keyboard, but expressed more ideas as well. Writing helps young brains develop reading and thinking skills and may also be linked to creativity. It’s possible that your keyboard may be stunting your growth. But we are creatures who love convenience, so what to do? One compromise may be to use a stylus to handwrite notes on your tablet. Apps like Notability and Penultimate allow you to write on ruled screen and save documents to Evernote or Dropbox for storage. Get started doodling today. Here’s a list of handwriting apps from iTunes.

Your Personal Marketing Plan - Part 2 of 5 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Your Personal Marketing Plan - Part 2 of 5 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career If youre new to this blog or post series, please read the first entry. Part 1 focused on your situational analysis and contained your mission, vision, projected annual compensation and your personal life cycle. Its really the first step into realizing your brand and now Im going to teach you about the second part called audience analysis. In business a market analysis is a way to research and discover trends in the market youre interested in pursuing, such as soft drinks or real estate. A market is a grouping of individual that share similar qualities and/or attributes. Personal branding is all about the niche markets rather than the full-blown industries, but the industries give you an idea of where the niche is heading. Markets can be sectioned off in whats called market segmentation, where you choose a piece of a larger market and promote your brand to them specifically. As you brainstorm and segment a market, the output is a beachhead, which is your main target market that you will be going for. Your personal brand works in the same way, displacing the word market with audience. An audience is how you measure personal branding success, as well as how you connect and who youre messaging to. An audience size can make one person a celebrity and another an unknown. As you increase your audience size through blogging and networking, you have more opportunities at your feet. Large audiences are the reason why Gizmodo, Robert Scoble, TechCrunch and other blogs are making thousands of dollars. Advertisers compensate based on size of audience, relevancy and credibility. Audiences (fans/website visitors/subscribers/people in your network/prospects interested in your topic) are the ones that will come to your speaking events, email you for information or want to do business with you. Audiences can be converted in to friends, friends can be transformed into clients and clients into money. In this post Ill dive into audience research and a SWOT analysis for you. Audience Research: Just like companies, you want to find out where your audience lives, how they communicate, their lifestyle and their behavior. Remember that youre not dealing with companies in a B2B/B2C operations, but rather the customers who may purchase your product (brand). If youre looking to get a job, then research where recruiters gather, or if youre interested in college students you may want to pursue Facebook. Conduct a search on Google or Technorati under key terms that reflect your interests. It is also useful to conduct research on the current job market trends, which you can find on the U.S. Department of Labor site, as well as Careerbuilder.com and Monster.com.You want to know whats hot and whats not. If youre in the technology field be forewarned that things change so rapidly that youre brand can have a lot of momentum and then be tossed away in a heartbeat. Also, your brand must stay relevant and if its not you may want to re-purpose it a little, without losing a uthenticity and passion. Consider it a balancing act, but still important in your long-term success. If you see an upward trend for your niche, then you will want to position yourself immediately.There are two forms of research: quantitative and qualitative. When you view hard number statistics that is quantitative and its easier to trend that type of data over time. Qualitative relies on reasoning and behavior, such as someone that is energetic, enthusiastic and sympathetic. The people in your audience are people, which means they all have their own brands and have the freedom to stay a part of your audience or leave to be a participant in anothers audience. Your goal is to research a niche of people that are reflective of your brand and a blog is a great filtering tool to keep only the subscribers who enjoy your brand active. Personal SWOT Analysis: For all of you who havent taken a marketing class, a SWOT analysis consists of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This model tends to be applied to businesses of all sizes, while incorporating competitors to see where they stand in relation to the company. Strengths Think of your skills, which could be your ability to design graphics, develop websites, write, communicate, project manage, etc. Personal strengths may be your networking skills or how sticky your brand is to attract others. Weaknesses These are areas where you need improvement. They could range from your ability to construct a blog to how you present yourself in public. Weaknesses are an important part of your development plan as well and overcoming them is essential to your personal growth. Opportunities As you progress in your career, you need opportunities to reach new heights, gather new skills and meet people who can help you along the way. Im not saying to take every opportunity given to you, but never miss out on one that fits into your plan. Threats Threats come in all shapes and sizes. A threat could be another individual competing for the same job, an environmental factor that may hinder your chances to succeed or a new movement that could possibly make your brand irrelevant or outdated. Some threats can be avoided and others cannot. With the right opportunities you can bypass some threats.

Why Use a LaTeX Resume Template?

Why Use a LaTeX Resume Template?Many people are wondering why they should use a latex resume template over a traditional one. It is true that you will save money by using a template and if you have the time to put into it, you should definitely do so.However, there are things that you need to know if you want to find out if this is the best option for you to get the perfect job. Even if you do not choose to use a template, many businesses still use a resume format. The question is whether or not you are going to choose to use a template that you can customize to suit your needs.First, when you use a latex resume template, you are going to be paying a very low fee. It is going to cost you less than $100. Most of the professional template companies will offer you a free trial so that you can compare and contrast the different templates before making a decision to pay the full price.Another important aspect of a template is that it will be customized to make sure that it fits with the u nique way that you write your resume. For example, a typical template will tell you that you have several years of experience in the same job. If you want to include a section on why you want to work at another company, you will need to write this part.On the other hand, you can choose to add a separate section for each job that you have done. For example, you can have a section for you training where you list the name of the company where you trained and how long you were employed there. You can also have a section for the responsibilities that you filled during your training at the company.You can also decide to add certain aspects that you are familiar with. For example, if you were at a job that was handled on a computer all day, you can put that section in the document. Or, if you were trained on how to manage people, then you can include this as well.The most important aspect of a template is that it can be used by everyone. While a traditional template will be designed for yo u, if you are not a very good writer, you can just write the information as you normally would. You can save yourself a lot of time and worry by doing this.Because you are creating the information yourself, you can choose what information you want included and leave the rest for other people who have a more personal style. If you do not like the look of a template, you can simply buy a new one to add a personal touch to your resume.

How to use colour to up your revision - Debut

How to use colour to up your revision - Debut If you’re like me, when it comes to revision you’ll use a lot of colour. At college, I was the student who’d arrive to lesson arrayed with a variety of highlighters; my Filofax, the ultimate organisation tool, was colour coded within an inch of its life. Be it appointments, blog posts, revision slots, when homework was due, it was bright and colourful. How can you ‘colour up’ your revision, to learn better? This can hopefully be used to avoid five exam pitfalls. The key words and statements Are you the type of learner who starts with the basic key words and statements? Same here. When speaking to a spokesman from Pilot Pens, he indicated that although there is no official research “using different ink colours to highlight key words and statements definitely helps in remembering key points. Vibrant colours such as orange, violet and green provide a strong visual indicator that you are looking at a key point and will help in remembering it.” Like a traffic light, colour can draw attention to the details that you need to know (green? Good to go!) Colour code the topic When it came to my A-levels, I adored all the topics I had decided to study. The problem was with the different units; German history was ‘my thing’, but who really cared about the Tudors and their taxes? I’d take a unit at a time, and colour code it with my packs of highlighters. The parts I didnt understand as well would be highlighted in the brightest colour I personally liked red the most to go over it, again, and again, and again. The parts that needed reinforcing were my ‘amber’, the bits ticked off the ‘green’. It ultimately helped me be more productive, too. Recommended buy: pastel highlighters from Paperchase. Go by mood These days, I also use the same tactic in a way to do with mood. Revision is not one of the most enjoyable things to do and it can be so boring! These days, when there’s something like that, I use my favourite colour to highlight; that way, it seems almost like a reward for when I’ve finally ‘got it’. It also makes the experience of getting rejected as a writer almost enjoyable. Putting a gummy bear on each section makes it more of an enjoyable experience, too. Papier had this fascinating piece, exploring the psychology of colourful stationery; we all know how green can be associated with jealousy and envy, but maybe this particular use of colour could help your revision? Use it to recall dates Dates are not my thing. Surely we should be looking at the bigger picture after all? Unfortunately, sometimes exams rely a lot on knowing the dates of things. If you write your notes out to revise, consider having a particular colour for a particular section for dates; maybe colour code dates you need to know particularly. Recommended buy: Stabilo fine-liners, available from most retailers. Use it in lectures Lectures can be… well, challenging at times. Enough so that we have a list of stationery perfect for lecturers; they’re sure to make it far more interesting! When it comes to note-taking, when we look back at notes from months ago, it can seem really off-putting; besides, we may not necessarily understand our handwriting, what we meant at the time, etc. If you have a variety of differently coloured pens, this can sometimes make note-taking a lot more specific, as well as tidy. (Or is that just me?) It also makes the notes look far more interesting; when you come back to it, revision may seem a lot less boring. Download Debut  and  connect with us on  Facebook,  Twitter  and  LinkedIn  for more careers insights.

Same Old Networking Events Getting Stale

Same Old Networking Events Getting Stale You and I have both attended them. Those networking events where all the same people show up and cluster together. I feel like I am in high school all over again. Yuck. The reason I attend these events is to meet new people, not hang with my old pals. So, heres the challenge to all those hosting networking eventswhat can you do to add value? What can you do to give back to those people attending your event? It isnt enough to get the space and invite people. You have to give them a reason to come and stay and connect! Im not bashing networking events, I am encouraging people to consider improving upon their current efforts. What can you do differently? Have crazy name tags? Create a type of scavenger hunt? Really, lets get beyond the standard mingling, which people arent so good at anyway and really give them something to talk about and engage with new people. Thats why they are there too. Hope this sparks some ideas. If youve been to an extraordinary event, please share what made it so!

The Tools to Keep you Organised at Work IM HIRED

The Tools to Keep you Organised at Work I will have a productive day, I will finish all my work and then you wake up Have you ever needed to get a huge list of tasks completed at work but instead you cant stop yourself from blankly starring at your computer screen? You have all the right intentions to get that report completed by 12 but you need to make yourself a tea before you get started and if youre going to the kitchen it would be rude not to make a round for the entire office and whilst youre there you must catch up with Sandra, so you can see all her pictures from her holiday in Thailand. When you have done all that you promise you will get onto that report that is if it isnt too close to lunch. You might as well start after lunch if you cant get it done beforehand. The cycle of being too busy and far too unproductive  continues Being organised is a key skill required in any job; it is that word that goes into everyone’s CV but is rarely put into practise when you actually get the job. I think we can all agree that there is never enough hours in the day and your workload only ever seems to increase; but can being organised really help you avoid those distractions and get the job done so you don’t have to end up spending your whole life at work? Before you say you are already organised as you have a “to do list” then this post is all about the tools you need to really stay on top of your work and avoid just copying yesterday list as you never actually managed to get anything done. Stop spending your time saying what you’re going to do and get it done Now I’m definitely someone who needs a bit of help to stay organised at work and to be honest in life in general; so any tool thats going to make that easier for me is something I need. Working from home, everything is a distraction â€" the telly is the big one, but even a loud car noise can turn me into a nosy  neighbour so I need an iron tight organisational scheme if I am going to get anything done. Keep Your Plan Online If your current version of a to do list, is writing down anything and everything on a scrap of paper that you usually end up losing half way through the day then you need to get yourself a backed up system (one  the dog cant eat.) Trello Trello is a great tool to organise your work, especially if your job requires you to complete projects. If your whole team signs up then you can assign people jobs, check on the progress of the teams work by using statuses (complete, in progress etc) and archive tasks that you can keep as a record of your work for future reference if needed. It is great for indicating prioritises  and keeping everything in one place so you can logon at work, home or on the go. Procaster App This app helps you complete your whole to do list rather than just doing those easier, quicker jobs that you prefer. It figures out why you are procrastinating and sets tasks and time limits for you to get things done. You can even review stats on tasks you have planned or completed. Toodledo Similar to Trello this is a tool to help you do more than just write a to do list, but track progress and time spent on individual tasks as well as assign tasks to other colleagues and store all information in one convenient  place. Avoid Those Distractions   If you are anything like me then that blue flash on your phone is the biggest form of distraction. You tell yourself youll just look so you can turn it off but already youve lost your flow because of an email notification or Facebook  message that you werent going to read anyway. So these tools will do the self-control for you by blocking you from the distraction. OFFTIME This app helps you temporarily disable certain apps or communications so you can focus and spend your time getting the task in hand done. It also provides analytics on your phone usage to help you better manage and potentially reduce the time you spend on your device. You are in control of the restrictions but think what you could do with an hour of no texts, calls or app notifications. AppDetox Literally helping you take a digital detox. It can be used as a parental control app but it also enables you to block certain apps, so if you are obsessed with Instagram and cant go 5 minutes without liking a photo this will help you go cold turkey. Schedule Your Social Media You dont have to be obsessed with social media any more to have a presence online which is great if you want to promote your side hustle, your own business or the company you work for without being up all night tweeting. You can even schedule your Linkedin posts which is great if you are a job seeker. Social Media tools usually have a limited free version and then after so long or so many posts require payment so if you dont have the money to schedule take advantage of a freebie. Hootsuite 1 user and 3 Social Media Platforms for Free (allows you to schedule 30 posts per month in total) Later 1 User and 4 Social Media Platforms for Free (allows 30 scheduled posts per month per platform) Tweetdeck free for unlimited posts to Twitter. Tailwind Schedule unlimited posts on Instagram and Pinterest for $15 per month and use this link and get you first month free* With so many tools out there to help you stay on top of your work and get organised there is no excuses anymore for avoiding that work right in front of you. So tell your colleagues they can make their own tea this morning and make Sandra wait until lunch to show you those pictures  and get the job finished Youll definitely deserve that break once youre done. *This post contains an affiliate link, meaning if you click the Tailwind link and purchase one of their plans you receive a one month free and so do I. To find out more about affiliate link head to our privacy page.