Welcome to our Human Resource blog, with the latest news and advice in Human Resource best practices, personal career development, job search tips, Career Transition, and making the most of your team.
HR Tips
Historically HR doesn’t get much spotlight compared to other departments in terms of its impact on the profitability of an organization, but this trend is changing, and companies are starting to realize the ultimate value human resources have on their bottom line. After all, people drive the profitability of every endeavour, and investing in people means investing in the success of a business.
Outsourcing HR functions is often the best strategy for many businesses that lack the resources or infrastructure to handle these complex tasks in-house. With human resources “on demand”, many companies can manage their HR needs as they come up, without having to commit an internal, non revenue generating department to the process.
So how exactly does investing in HR services benefit profitability?
Talent Management
Attracting the right talent, retaining valuable people, allocating those resources effectively, and developing their skills is a complicated process that takes skillful planning and execution. If done correctly, the right people in the right roles, performing at their best, increases efficiencies and evolves business, creating an environment for meeting and beating organizational goals. Building effective strategies such as succession planning ultimately protects a company from the losses that can incur during times of transition as well, ensuring strong leadership and a committed workforce keeps the gears turning.
Risk Management
Professional HR firms know the ins and outs of employment law and compliance, ensuring companies can control liabilities and mitigate risks. Remaining up to date on current best practices, legal obligations, and employment trends is crucial to preventing complications and the losses associated with those potential issues.
Corporate Strategy
In order to achieve corporate goals, many factors have to align, and that includes processes on how to manage people. Each organization has its own unique strategy, and it often takes a professional to understand how to align that strategy with policies on how to effectively develop, organize, and motivate the people responsible for carrying out that strategy. If aligned, the team will seamlessly work toward objectives and increase profitability with minimal effort.
Efficiency
When people are motivated they can achieve incredible things, but employee motivation isn’t accidental. Many factors are involved in successfully motivating a workforce and developing a productive work culture. HR consultants know how to leverage the assets and eagerness of a team by ensuring they are properly compensated, appropriately acknowledged, and given enough room to develop and contribute, so that efficiencies are created through high performance and skill application. HR outsourcing means companies can effectively monitor and manage efficiencies without having the administrative burden of taking it on full time, and the expertise required to streamline strategies effectively.
Improving your organization’s profitability can be as easy as setting up an employee engagement program, or creating a manual that sets the expectations of a work culture for peak performance. Whether its the need for a more effective recruitment strategy or an HR overhaul, outsourcing HR can be a simple, cost effective way to boost your bottom line.
Kelowna HR is the Okanagan’s leader in providing HR services just when you need it. Call today to discuss how we can assist in your HR needs.
250-826-6964 [...]
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Millennials are taking over the workplace and it’s sooner than you think. By 2025, millennials will comprise 75% of the workforce. Due to demographic shifts, including more experienced Baby Boomers retiring, it is essential for businesses to engage Millennials now so they are able to fulfill talent shortages in the near future. Developing a strong leadership pipeline and expertise are key to business continuity.
The Complication:
Unfortunately, many organizations are not prepared to attract, engage, and retain Millennials because they continue to use management practices that are off target. Only one in three employees are engaged in their role, costing organizations billions of dollars in productivity. Neglecting to engage Millennials will result in talent shortages, turnover expenses, and a damaged reputation.
A misperception exists that Millennials are completely different from other generations and therefore are impossible to understand and engage. Consider these:
Managers today frequently complain about the challenges of managing Millennials, yet rigorous empirical studies show that Millennials differ little from previous generations at the same age.
Millennials driven by the same factors as other generations. Leverage these similarities to develop an engagement plan which will motivate a multi-generational workforce, including the Millennial segment.
The differences that do exist, create opportunities for HR to enhance their performance.
“Neglecting to engage Millennials will result in talent shortages, turnover expenses, and a damaged reputation.”
The Resolution:
Using Kelowna Human Resource’s Employee Engagement Framework, organizations can improve Millennial engagement at both the job and organizational levels.
Millennials had a different upbringing than the Baby Boomers and Generation X; however, much of what they demand in the workplace will engage the entire workforce, not just their demographic.
Improved Millennial engagement will result in an increase in the attraction and retention of high-performing Millennial employees.
Want to know more about how Kelowna HR can help improve your Millennial engagement and increase your organization’s efficacy? Contact us now to discuss your situation and goals.
Ph: 250-826-6964
email: elizabeth@kelownahr.com [...]
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Organizations have realized the power of social media and are increasingly using it as the channel of choice for communicating and promoting the employer brand. Employee ambassador programs are a top emerging social media trend as organizations shift from talent acquisition to talent attraction.
Our Recommendation
Build an employee ambassador program that suits the needs, culture, and trust level of your organization.
The challenge is that corporate communications and digital strategies are usually owned by individuals, teams, or departments outside of HR. Without HR involvement in employer branding, organizations run the risk of promoting a brand that is misaligned with the employee value proposition (EVP). Without the skills, resources, or ownership, it is difficult for HR to build a strong social media presence and take their social media use to the next level.
Kelowna HR’s Insights
Social media is a powerful tool to communicate and promote the employer brand and organizations are increasingly recognizing its potential.
Organizations generally use social media as a means of recruiting potential talent and/or for consumer marketing; but initiating an employee ambassador program is increasingly becoming a top social media priority.
While social media changes HR’s role, HR does not have to become a marketing expert. Instead, they need to collaborate with those who have the right skills and knowledge.
With the active promotion of your employer brand by employees, organizations extend their reach, provide an authentic voice to organizational life, and ultimately promote the organization.
Leverage the power of Social Media to effectively promote your brand in a strategic way. Contact KHR now and find out how we can help make the process easy and effective.
250-826-6964
elizabeth@kelownahr.com [...]
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Develop an accurate, aligned, and aspirational EVP to reinforce your talent management strategy and differentiate yourself from key competitors.
Your organization’s reputation as an employer is critical to attracting and retaining top talent; however, many organizations fail to actively manage their brand internally with current employees, and externally with potential applicants. Creating an accurate and engaging EVP and employer brand to highlight the unique features of your organization will differentiate yourself from competitors.
Kelowna HR’s Recommendation
The first step is to create an accurate and engaging employee value proposition (EVP) as the foundation for your employer brand. If the EVP does not resonate with employees, you risk doing damage to your reputation both inside and outside the organization.
· Highlight the unique features of your organization in the EVP to help differentiate yourself from competitors, support recruitment, and increase retention by emphasizing people-organization fit. The marketing department can help with the development of your promotional strategy to emphasize these features in an interesting and exciting way.
· Aim to achieve alignment between the EVP, employer brand, and the corporate brand as your ultimate branding goal. The more aligned you are internally and externally, the better your word of mouth will be.
A strong employer brand is linked to lower recruitment costs, better organizational alignment, and increased employee engagement. In the age of social media, opinions are communicated quickly and freely. Organizations must actively manage their brand internally with current employees and externally with potential applicants to ensure the reputation they have represents the true employee experience.
Our Insights
· Creating a compelling EVP and employer brand is about honesty and transparency. Every organization has positives and negatives; rather than sugar-coating, focus on presenting a realistic picture of the employee experience to attract people with the right fit.
· Tailor your communication style to your desired audience; by using a customized marketing strategy, you create a personal connection to the brand with a lasting impact. [...]
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One of the most difficult tasks that a company faces is to let an employee go. It is stressful for the management team, human resources, and the employee. Ensuring severance is paid to labour standards and above is only one consideration in the process. Providing outplacement and career transition support to departing employees offers a humane approach to organizational change, and significantly improves the transition process for all involved.
Employee outplacement is the process by which an organization supports a terminated employee’s transition through paid assistance. As part of a departing employee’s leaving package, employers should include career transition services with a professional coach, ideally for 1, 2 or 3 months. These services cover a wide range of areas, including career assessment, resume and cover letter building, networking advice, interview coaching, and job search assistance. Moreover, proper career transition services offer individuals an opportunity to rebuild their professional brand, building vital networks and resenting themselves to unknown markets.
In addition to practical skills and strategies for career development, career transition services prepare individuals emotionally for the next steps. Developing the skills to navigate the competitive job market and understanding how to leverage their unique assets gives departing employees a renewed sense of confidence to find their next best choice.
It is also beneficial to have a professional career transition coach there for the termination meeting. As an impartial third party, a coach can give the employee a sense of support, knowing that they have not been “abandoned” or isolated. The coach can act as a sounding board in the midst of unexpected change, and talk about next steps so the leaving employee knows what to do next.
Career Transition Services offer the following benefits:
To the employer –
Builds trust and improves morale – employees left behind see that the organization cares about its employees, even in the face of change. This in turns helps morale and productivity.
Acts as good PR – career transition support sends a powerful message to clients that even in adversity the organization cares what happens to its people.
Decreases potential legal costs – career transition services reduce potential lawsuits and motivates employees to find new jobs faster, decreasing unemployment compensation claims.
To the employee –
Emotional support – outplacement coaching services offer leaving employees deal with moments of fear, anxiety, anger, sadness, relief and excitement, by having a trusted professional to speak with one-on-one.
Skills and guidance – building a cohesive professional brand and developing the tools and documents to support a successful career transition gives employees a renewed sense of value and confidence in their contributions.
Kelowna HR is the leading Okanagan provider of Career Transition Services. We assist your employee in preparing and presenting themselves in the best possible light to potential employers. We are highly skilled and experienced in helping our client plan and progress through each step to find and be ready for the next opportunity.
With proven process and individualized coaching that ensures your employee is met with success, Kelowna HR is a valuable part of an effective outplacement strategy. Contact us today to find out how we can make a tough business decision into a valuable opportunity. [...]
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Career Development
Is it Monday again already? Will today be the day they let me go? Can this be all there is?
Sound familiar?
Career change can be motivated by many reasons – sudden, unexpected transitions in organizational structure, dissatisfaction with current work culture, or simply the desire to be challenged in an entirely different role can inspire us to dust off our resume and consider our options. However exciting a concept, career transition can also be daunting, and many unsuccessful career changes are due to a lack of clarity, planning and knowledge of critical factors like industry trends or best practices in professional presentation.
Career Transition Services make all the difference.
If you have been considering a career change, you’re likely feeling a bit overwhelmed. But luckily for career changers, Career Transition Services are excellent tools to navigate these muddy waters without the fear and stress often associated with “starting over”. Skilled career coaching professionals can meet you “where you are” in your career, identifying your own unique position, evaluating goals and helping you define a clear path that makes sense to your circumstances.
But I’ve been working in this job my whole career. I have no idea what else I’d be good at.
Most of us have talents and interests that cross over various boundaries. You may have spent a decade working with numbers but have always wanted to try motivating people. Maybe you’ve been in physically demanding work for too long and your body is telling you to find a desk job. Whatever the reason, changing positions or even industries is not impossible, and professional coaches can help you with your career assessment, characterizing your strengths, pinpointing your passions, and assessing your “market readiness” so you can ultimately realize your goals.
I know what my strengths are, but how do I make sure a potential employer knows them, too?
It may be obvious to you that you’re a shoe-in for a position, but that doesn’t automatically mean a recruiter does. Presenting yourself in the best possible light is crucial to finding that dream job. Career Transition Services can help you with the personal branding process, developing valuable marketing documents and creating social media profiles that showcase your unique value.
I have a resume, but how do I get noticed? There’s so much competition out there.
Having a professional resume and cover letter that you are proud of is important, but a career change often involves more than just sending in one application. Good Career Transition Professionals are also personal marketing specialists, and they can provide methodologies to the job hunt that uncover hidden opportunities and ensure your visibility in the marketplace.
I haven’t had a job interview in years. I’m not sure I’d even know what to say.
Job interviews are intimidating, and selling yourself, especially when you’re not used to it, can feel uncomfortable and scary. Nailing a job interview often comes down to confidence, and trained career coaches can help you hone your interviewing skills so that you can walk into that interview with poise and conviction in your capabilities.
As the Okanagan’s leading provider in Career Transition Services, Kelowna HR’s team of highly skilled professionals have a proven track record of success in leveraging our client’s assets, boosting their confidence, and setting them on a meaningful professional path. Our proven process and individualized coaching ensures that your “brand” puts you ahead of the competition.
It’s time you make that career dream a reality. Call now for a free assessment and find out more about your Career Transition program.
Please contact Elizabeth Neef at elizabeth@kelownahr.com or 250-826-6964. Your career dreams are waiting. [...]
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“You write resumes? I haven’t updated my resume in years. I’ve been meaning to do that.”
I can’t tell you how many times I hear this. And it seems to make sense – why update a resume unless you need to use it? For most people, a resume is something we only consider when applying for a job, and often times it is a mad dash to gather information, hunt down contacts, and otherwise scramble to try to present yourself in the best possible light when that position opens up.
Avoiding a scramble is one good reason to keep an updated resume, but it’s not the only one. As “the most financially important document you will ever own” (Martin Yate), polishing up that resume now might be more valuable than you’ve considered.
Boost your confidence – If you haven’t promoted yourself in a while, it can be a gratifying process to analyze and acknowledge the successes you have had in your life and the strengths you bring to a professional setting.
Find a common thread – When we put together a resume, we are essentially constructing a story about who we are, where we’ve come from, and where we want to go. Often during this storytelling we find common threads we didn’t previously consider – themes that can act as guideposts for future decision-making about our careers.
Be prepared for the “worst” – Job security isn’t what it used to be. It’s rare these days that individuals stay with one company for their whole career, and with constant mergers, acquisitions, births and deaths of organizations, and shifting company roles, it is better to be prepared for sudden, unexpected change.
Present your expertise – There are many opportunities to portray yourself as an expert in your field – meetings, conferences, journals– and in order to pitch your presentation to managers, editors or organizers, having a document that validates your proposal is key.
Be ready to collaborate – Whether you are actively looking for ventures or interested in the potential of picking up some side work, having an updated resume can be a crucial piece to finding partners to put that project together.
Be prepared for new opportunities – If there’s a sudden opening for that sought-after position at work, or the boss has hinted at the potential for a raise, what better way to tip the scales than to present a polished, professional document that exemplifies your worth and distinction.
Make yourself visible – Recruiters can’t find you if you’re not visible, so updating your resume and posting it in places where you can be seen, even if you’re not actively looking for a new job, can open up opportunities you didn’t know were possible.
Updating your resume is always worth it, even if you’ve never needed one before. We live in an age of opportunity, and it can’t come knocking if there isn’t a clear sign as to where the door is. Maybe you’ve been putting it off because it just seems too overwhelming – what layout is the most effective? What keywords are valuable for Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)? How long should it be and what is the most important information to include?
Skilled professional resume writers have the knowledge and experience to extract the most valuable information about your professional identity and create meaningful marketing documents that get you noticed. Remember, having a resume that makes you feel confident in your professional presentation is an extremely valuable asset.
So dust off that old resume, or start from scratch, and finally put together that personal, professional advertising piece you’ve always wanted.
Need help? Our professional writers are here to assist you in creating an authentic, distinctive resume. Call today for a quote.
Call now: 250.826.6964 [...]
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We live in a DIY culture – one where YouTube allows us to learn in a weekend how to install a kitchen sink, cook crème brulee and find 10 new uses for toothpaste (did you know it helps get rid of bruises?). Most of us are at least relatively competent with word processing software, and we know the basics about how to present our work history on paper. If not, there’s always YouTube, or a million other resources to teach us how.
So is that’s the case, why would anyone hire a professional to write their resume? After all, we know ourselves and our job histories better than anyone.
The truth is, you can write your own resume, and some are very successful in doing so. However, the value in having your resume professionally written can be significant in certain contexts, and perhaps significant enough to make or break a key opportunity.
When hiring a professional is a good idea:
You don’t know where to start.
You’ve never written a resume before, and although you have a vague idea of the kind of information needed, you have no idea how to put it on paper. A good resume writer will know what questions to ask to ensure you have the most comprehensive picture of your employability.
You aren’t confident with computers.
Not all professions require you to sit behind a computer screen, and even if they do, most of us aren’t aware of the tools and tricks available with many word processing programs that give your document the appropriate layout for maximum marketability.
You don’t have “a way with words”.
You don’t have to be a poet to write an effective resume, but understanding how language works in translating crucial information is key to writing a strong resume. Writing powerfully often means making choices about how to state things concisely, authentically, and in a way that communicates your message to your specific reader (ie. your potential employer).
You have a unique work history.
Perhaps you have been out of work for some time due to personal reasons, or you left an impressive position because of conflicts with management. How do you reconcile this on a resume so it doesn’t throw up a red flag? Professional resume strategists have been trained to use a variety of techniques to take the emphasis off of areas of perceived weakness in your document and emphasize your strengths.
You don’t have the time.
We are all busy, and even if you are resourceful and can navigate your way through YouTube like a pro (hello crème brulee), writing your own resume isn’t something you have the time for – or, perhaps, the desire to do. After all, writing a professional resume requires research, creativity, focus, and revisions. Professional resume writers often have resources available and experience that expedite the process, and offer the added bonus of saving you the time spent on stressing about whether or not you’ve done a good job.
You aren’t getting results.
The online application world can be a black hole, sucking up resumes and spitting them out into databases with hundreds of other applicants, making it difficult to gain visibility. Professional resume writers know this, and should have an understanding of how to present the content of your resume so that it gets picked up by tracking systems and sent to the “A” pile (the ones that get the interview). Moreover, if you are lucky enough to apply directly, either through email or in person, having a well-crafted, easy to understand, pleasing to the eye document will give you a crucial advantage. And if it’s a job you really want, it’s often worth every penny.
If you are confident writing your own resume, go for it! There are endless resources on how to put it together effectively. If, however, you feel like you’re struggling, or lacking the confidence to put something together to send out into the world, professional writers are here to help.
Talk to our Certified Resume Strategist today! 250-826-6964
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