Employee Engagement - What Your Employees Really Want A Manager To Do

A friend of mine who owns a construction business told me, "We lost our receptionist right before the holiday weekend."

I asked, "What happened?"

"She said she wasn't challenged, and no one ever asked her about all the extra skills she brought to the receptionist job. She said she had very strong technical skills that could have really helped our business - but no one ever checked in with her and asked her what she could do outside of her job description."

When my friend hired this person, she told him she "wanted to work hard, stay busy, learn and grow on the job and contribute her talents." Sounds ideal, right?
So he hired her. She settled into her new position fast, and the following

4 months went smoothly.

Until she resigned!

As an HR consultant, specializing in recruitment and retention, I saw that several things went wrong from the beginning of the process:

 No one "rethought" the job to see if it should evolve with the times.
 There was no updated job description.
 My friend heard what he wanted to hear - an applicant who wanted to "work hard and stay busy" and ignored the rest of the sentence - "learn and grow on the job and contribute my talents."
There was no follow-up communication from him -- she learned the job and did it very well. Because there was no problem, there was no communication.
 There was no follow-up communication from her -- she didn't push the point. Her dissatisfaction festered until she felt she had to leave.

The Millennial Generation - hooked on stimulation, comfortable with multitasking and hungry to learn the next new thing - is entering our workforce in droves. Managers need to learn how to take the "working pulse" of their employees.

One tool that's helpful in taking this "working pulse" is an Employee Engagement Discussion.
An Employee Engagement Discussion is the cure for the under-challenged, the talented, the "flight risks" -- exactly the employees you want to retain!

The Employee Engagement Discussion is the opportune time to share talents and strengths that will benefit the manager, the department, the company. The two-part process begins with the employee completing a Talent Showcase Plan, the tool used to facilitate the discussion between the employee and the manager. It includes:

o A list of self-identified talents the employee wants to exercise on the job
o A list of ways those talents can be used from the employee's point of view
o A list of expected results
o A date for a progress update

The second part is the manager-employee meeting:
o The employee presents each self-identified talent they want to either exercise more or put into use.
o The employee and the manager discuss how the talent can best be used to contribute to the department and the organization.
o Jointly, the employee and the manager formulate the expected results for the use of the talent.
o A date is set for a follow-up meeting to review the progress and results
A tool to increase employee engagement and retention!

Having talent attrition challenges? Talk to our talent management & HR advisory consultancy in Singapore. Visit here. A internet marketing article for small business by Scotts Digital.

What to Do If Your Apple Device Breaks

After people buy and iPod or an iPhone they are so excited about what their device can do that they neglect to look at what to if the device stops working. For things like ipod screen repair and iPhone screen repair people should check the warranty first to see if the device is covered at the time the device stops working since most of the screens have a fairly long warranty period. If the product is not under warranty when it breaks, people can choose to take it to a repair shop or take it directly to the Apple Store. Finally, when you get your product back, you will want to make sure it works the way you want and make sure that you understand any new warranty that might be in effect.

The first thing you want to do when any kind of Apple Device stops working is to check the warranty. A warranty is given to customers, by the company, as a guarantee that the product will work for a certain period of time. If the product stops working before the guaranteed period ends, you should be able to take it in to the Apple Store to get it fixed at no charge to you.

If your warranty has expired, then you will want to decide how you want to get your device repaired. You can either take it to an Apple Store to have it fixed or you can take it to a private repair shop. If you take it to an Apple Store there may be a longer wait to have your device repaired rather than if you go to a private repair shop. Also, taking it to the Apple Store will probably mean a high cost to you, if your product is no longer under warranty. Mission Repair is your source for high-quality first class premium electronic repairs. They specialize in iPods and iPhone repairs. The website is easy to navigate and allows you to check the status of your order.

Finally, after your device has been fixed you will want to make sure you understand any new warranties that have been applied and what kind of repairs were made. The reason for this is that you want to be able to know what repairs have been done in case your device stops working again. Also, you want to be able to save money if your device breaks again by knowing whether or not your product is under warranty.

It is important to know what to do when any kind of Apple device you have breaks, so you can have it fixed quickly at as low a cost as possible to you. Once your Apple device is fixed you want to be sure that you understand any which, if any, new warranties were applied so you will be able to save money in the future if your device breaks again. It can be much less stressful to have your product fixed when you know exactly what to do to get your product repaired quickly at the least expense to you.

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Great Jobs For People Who Love Working With Numbers

If you have always been the type of person who loved working with numbers and you were a math whiz in school, working with numbers may be a great career for you. There are plenty of options for those who enjoy the detail oriented requirements of working with numbers. Not everyone has the patients or exacting nature to spend their days staring at figures. However, if this is something you enjoy, your career options are both plentiful and prosperous. Live trading or working with technical analysis trading allows you to watch numbers all day long and make business investments based on what you see. You need to have a gut instinct for numbers and for the market, but if you are able to combine your talent with numbers and a strong gut instinct for market trends, you may have a long and prosperous career in front of you.

The market is not for everyone, but you may still enjoy working with money. Banking is one of the steadiest jobs a person can have. Creative types may think working in a bank is like a life sentence in prison, but if you are analytical and detail oriented, it may be the right career for you. Best of all, even those who enjoy working around people can work in a bank. It is sometimes a struggle to find a job that allows you to work with numbers while also being social and spending time with the community. Banking is the right job for friendly, social people who are good with numbers.

If you prefer to be more behind the scenes and work in more of a support role, consider a career in accounting. Accountants are often the unsung heroes of a company. They keep the budget on track with very little notice or recognition. Unlike departments like customer service or human resources, they have very little opportunity to work with other people. If you are the type who likes to go into your office, get your work done and be left alone, accounting may be the right job for you.

Those who enjoy the support role but who yearn for personal interaction can look into personal finance managing. There are a lot of people in the world who need assistance planning their financial presents and futures. If you are savvy with investments and you enjoy working with numbers and money, you can help people who would rather focus on other areas of their lives.

If you like working with numbers, but money is of no interest to you or the idea of handling someone else's money is intimidating to you; consider a career as a statistician. In this field, you are still number crunching, but a lot of the pressure that is there with money is lacking with statistics. There are stat jobs for people with a wide range of interests and the field is used in everything from sports to politics to medicine. It is easy for a statistician to find work that combines two or more of their interests.

Sourcing for Singapore tuition or tutor Singapore, check here. A marketing strategies effort for smes by Scotts digital.

Tutoring Requirements

Essential Requirements to Be a Tutor

Self employment tutors are free to choose when and how to tutor. In order to start you own tutoring business it is essential to be a true professional. A good reputation is mostly based on a good service. The following suggestions can help you make a check list of all the right aptitudes you will need to be on top of your game!

- As explored in the last article, it is essential to be confident: a thorough knowledge of your subject and a good aptitude at passing on your skills is foundational to all tutors.

- Always be punctual and reliable. This is the least clients expect from you and can make you look unprofessional if you overlook these basic requirements.

- Chose an appropriate dress code for a professional approach. Remember, you must reassure the client that you are serious, especially during the first meetings.

- Develop a good rapport with the student and parents. Express your self clearly, be articulate and direct. This sends the right type of message and helps both parents and students to relax. If English is not your maternal language and that you make a special effort to be clear and articulate, it will give you extra respect and consideration from you client. It is essential to be able to communicate with parents and pupils in English even if your classes are in your maternal language.

- Be well organized, and prepare each lesson in advance. Never waste your client's time!

- When meeting with your client for the first time, have a complete CV prepared, along with references and a CRB disclosure. These documents should be available to the employer from the start, so that they can be fully assured of your competence and trustworthiness before taking any further steps. This helps to establish a base of professionalism and trust from the start.

- Assess your student's abilities in order to adapt your lessons to each individual. It is your role to decide of the level, methods and content used during your lessons, but you must do so in a knowing, attentive way, by being receptive of your student's needs and abilities.

- A tutor should be able to give enthusiastic and enjoyable lessons. The ability to make your subject interesting is a gift, but can be improved on. Be constant in your enthusiasm and leave your mood / personal life at the door: this is the true mark of the professional Tutor.

- Give reasonable outcome expectations and a plan for both students and parents from the start. It is their right as clients to be involved as much as possible.

- You will need to provide, or be provided with a suitable area of study. The study area needs to be clean and tidy and more importantly, free of interruptions. It would be very unprofessional for tutors to leave their phone on, or accept interruptions by family members. Be polite and gentle but firm. Make sure both you (as the tutor) and the student remove any outside interruptions from day one (Turn off those phones, and close that door).

Googling for tuition singapore,goto Eimaths.com. A guerilla marketing examples for SMEs in Singapore by Scotts Digital.

Marketing Tips for Consultants

Becoming a consultant can be as easy as hanging up your shingle, calling a few colleagues to see if they can use your services and putting a contract together. But what happens when you run out of colleagues and their projects have dried up? This is one of the questions that I am asked everyday from consultants that are not only new but those that have been in the game for a long time. Marketing for consultants seems to be very cyclical, when there is plenty of work, then the marketing stops as there is no time to get it done. When the work is over, it is a mad scramble to try and not spend too much money yet be effective. Unfortunately, by being penny wise, the consultant can miss out on a number of excellent opportunities.

The best way to market for consultants is to do it on a regular basis. This is not rocket science, it is, however, a matter of being consistent and making the marketing efforts a habit. The best scenario for any consultant is to be booked for over 6 months in advance. You may wonder why it is that some consultants are able to do this effectively, while others have dry spells that can last for months. Those that do have the dry spells tend to blame everything including the economy, to the groups they belong to, to any outside source, when it reality they only have to blame themselves.

In reality, the economy does play a big part on how well a consultant does as people who are laid off from corporate jobs come into the profession and destroy the credibility of the legitimate consultant. They tend to lower prices as they are hungry and there always seems to be so many of them. As a seasoned consultant, you can remove a great deal of this type of problem by putting together a marketing plan that spans over your fiscal year. Any marketing plan needs to have actions that are executed daily or at a minimum weekly.

A typical marketing plan will include going to networking events, writing some articles for newspapers or magazines, getting out and doing some evening or lunch hour talks. Whatever you choose, you must be visible and you must show your expertise. Does this take effort? Yes it does but the rewards are a full pipeline and those peaks and valleys of the typical consulting firm are minimized.

The problem with most consultants is that they do not usually have the marketing expertise to put together a plan that will maximize the dollars spent. This is when you need to turn to a marketing consultant or someone that can help them put together a plan that is customized for their niche. As a consultant, I help clients put together a plan and a budget to execute the plan plus a set of action steps. It is the action steps that are the key to making the plan work. So now it is time you start planning, spending, and putting your action steps together.

Searching for a reliable job consultancy in singapore,check Recruitplus. A guerrilla marketing job by Scotts Digital.

Responsibilities of a Construction Consultant

The construction and management consultants are basically known as the representatives of a construction estate. They work at an expert level along with the ordinary builders. There is also a senior construction team working at a side which makes sure that proper amount and quality of material is being used by the builders. This team also ensures that whether the material being used is good for the health of the environment or not. If it is not, then they replace that material and come up with environment friendly material for undertaking construction and management. The project on which these consultants work may range from a single room to a multi-level development program. This always depends upon the nature of the work assigned to these construction consultants. These professionals are highly trained and they can work on any kind of construction project.

When the projects are assigned to the professionals, they plan and make decision for choosing material that is to be used and they forward the tender to the suppliers. When the tender is completed, the material is supplied according to the required specification of each item of construction. This specification covers every single detail of all the items that are provided for construction from a single screw to the most complicated and the largest pieces to be used. After this, construction gets started and all the required material is utilized by the builders including the services of the construction consultants involved in the project.

When the material is obtained, the construction and management consultants examine the material carefully and make sure that it is viable for the health of the environment and then they pass it for further usage. After this, the material is forwarded to the builders and in this way the project is completed with its finest quality and is constructed with great skills that help in increasing its life.

The construction and management consultants then make a proper catalog for all the items and keep record for each item that is being utilized during construction. These building specification consultants also make a summary at the end of each day for the material consumed in work. This is done for the betterment of the whole organization. Builders work with full efforts to produce quality construction with their abilities due to which they are rewarded with money in the end. This is everything that is involved in the construction routine. The construction and management consultants not only work with the builders but they also maintain balance of work among the workers. Each builder performs a specific task and put in full efforts to achieve the desired outcomes.

In the same way, the product specification details are passed to the concerned authorities and then all these details are managed and put in a record. From this routine, we can observe that professional building construction consultants are as important as the building material is for construction. The one who has this kind of experience and knowledge will be prosperous in life by attaining a fair position in the construction department.

Seeking for a dependable job consultants in singapore,check Recruitplus. A guerrilla marketing job by Scotts Digital.

Internet Presence - Help Recruiters Find You, and Know How to Approach Recruiters Effectively

A personal Internet presence can help when a recruiter Googles you. Not having an Internet presence can definitely hurt you when a recruiter Googles you. That said, it is an unfortunate reality that very few job seekers understand how to approach recruiters effectively.
Even though you don't want to have your job search strategy rest solely on approaching recruiters, many job seekers inadvertently shoot themselves in the head because they don't know how to effectively approach recruiters.

Many people don't even understand what a recruiter does and doesn't do, or more specifically - how they get paid. It definitely differs from country to country, but predominantly the following is true:

Recruiters are - not - agents for candidates; they are agents for clients.

Or alternatively:

Recruiters don't find jobs for people; they find people for jobs.

Approaching a recruiter and telling them you want to discuss "how we can work together", telling them you'd like to discuss having them represent you; telling them you're trying to choose someone to represent you; presenting them with the opportunity to represent you, are all approaches that will expedite your listening to a dial tone or having your email deleted.

The only real way you are going to get any recruiters' attention is if - based on timing - you happen to align with the requirements of a position they are trying to fill. There is about as much chance of that happening as getting struck by lightening. If you don't align with the requirements of a position they are trying to fill, then you are simply going to be perceived as someone who is about to waste the recruiter's time - time they can't afford to waste. Ouch that hurts. Hey - just ask yourself, when doing whatever it is that you do for a living - which is more productive - wasting time talking to an unsolicited call from someone trying to sell you something you don't need, or focusing on doing what you are paid to do?
Reality check #1: Recruiters are some of the busiest people on the planet. Good ones are also some of the hardest working 24X7 dedicated people you will ever meet. Many recruiters regularly work 12-hour days 6 days a week or more. Why? Again, because timing is everything on the candidate side as well as on the opportunity side, and time kills all deals. It is also a bandwidth issue in that - the faster a recruiter can fill a search - the more searches they can do in a year - the more income they generate from - clients - that pay them (i.e., not candidates) to conduct searches.

My phone rings at least once every 10 minutes. Many recruiters don't even answer the phone if it isn't a scheduled call. My executive assistant used to yell at me - "Stop answering your phone. Let me do that." Sounds kind of strange why an executive recruiter wouldn't answer their phone right? Well it isn't. Why? Because, they'd never get anything done, if they had a 15-minute conversation with every unsolicited candidate who called to discuss their job search campaign every 10 minutes. It is just an unfortunate reality that many unsolicited candidates never receive a return phone call or an email acknowledging a resume submission or attempt at communication with a recruiter. Don't take it personally.

Reality check #2: Most of us are busy right? Ever hear an executive complain about the number of voicemails they get, or the number of emails they receive? A recruiter's life revolves around the phone and email. I've never met an executive who really had to deal with the volume of voicemail and email recruiters have to deal with.

Want to increase your chances of connecting with a recruiter? Make it easy for them to communicate with you!

Send them an email; don't just leave them a voicemail. Why? Emails are infinitely easier to respond to than a voicemail. If a recruiter calls you, they risk that you might actually answer the phone - when the recruiter simply wants to respond with a quick message, and then the recruiter gets sucked into an unplanned - conversation.

I'm not saying don't call a recruiter. Most definitely have a 30-Second Elevator Pitch when you do. This way you can leave them a crisp voicemail as a back up to your email, and tell them you are doing so in the voicemail (don't forget to leave your email address as part of the message).

When you send an email, have the body of the email -briefly- (key word) state the purpose for reaching out to the recruiter and attach your -pin sharp- resume. Don't tell your life story in the body text of the email. Don't cut and paste your resume into the body text of the email. Don't give an -executive summary- in the body text of the email. Don't attach additional documents like bio's, PowerPoint presentations, articles, and other unsolicited information that a recruiter doesn't have the time to read. Attach your resume - period.
Here is where having a personal Internet presence can help you as well. State in your email, "In addition to my attached resume, if you'd like to know a little more about me just Google me." That is an extremely powerful statement.

There is also -never- any reason to send a recruiter an email and not attach your resume if you aren't already in dialog.

Reality check #3: Recruiters can end up seeing hundreds of resumes a day. Did I mention your resume should be "pin sharp"? Did I mention you should always attach a resume even in a follow up email to an unresponsive recruiter? Even if a recruiter took the time to respond to your email or voicemail there is still a very good chance they have not actually seen/read let alone - saved - your resume.

When a recruiter does give you the time of day, take a second to acknowledge their busy reality, acknowledge the fact you are - ambushing them - with an unscheduled call if that's the case, and then get to the point. Give them your 30-Second Elevator Pitch. Don't tell them your life story. Ask them what if anything they'd like to know more. Ask them the best way and when to follow-up, or if they'd like to schedule some time.

The following is huge!
Ask the recruiter if they might benefit from being connected to any of your contacts based on the current search portfolio the recruiter is working on - even if you don't map into it. You are making a networking call when contacting a recruiter. What a concept - offering to help the recruiter. Ask the recruiter if they belong to any on-line networking platforms like Ecademy, LinkedIn, et al., and if they do offer to connect networks.

Realize there is a very slim chance the recruiter is currently working on a search you will map into and focus on extending a helping hand - and they will remember you. It is more likely you are in a position to help them with one of their searches based on who you know than they will be working on a project you map into. Did I mention this was a networking project? Remember this is all based on timing. They will hopefully remember you and reach out to you when they are working on an opportunity you might map into. Oh, and get this: they might actually know a hiring authority with a need you might fit - even though they have no association with the search. I've introduced many candidates to clients with needs I was aware of - even though there was nothing in it for me other than shear "good will".

If you approach recruiters this way there is a much greater chance they will call you when the timing is right.

Happy Networking,

Search for Singapore job consultants or executive search Singapore,check out this directory. A social media marketing campaign by Scotts DIGITAL