Calling All Cool Companies Why Do You Discriminate

Calling All Cool Companies Why Do You Discriminate Last year I applied for a product management job at a local SaaS company. It was one of those best places to work companies one that had Silicon Valley wages (which is a big deal where I live), and got all kinds of recognition for their cool software. As I was doing company research I found a picture of their team. There were maybe about a hundred people in the picture. After scanning the picture for about a minute I realized: I would never get hired there. Why? Because Im 45, not 25. If you are in your 50s or 60s you are shaking your head saying 45? Thats young! Its not young to recruiters, or hiring managers, or company owners. Its old. That company picture showed a team of about 100 people, all of which looked like they were in their 20s. Look, I dont hate young people. But I do hate discrimination. The most blatant and widespread discrimination I see for job seekers is age discrimination. It could be because most of my audiences are first Baby Boomers, then Gen X, and I might get one or two Millennials. I  hear about the problem when I speak loud and clear! Last night I was  checking twitter and  this issue came up. I wrote this: Just watched a video from a best places to work company. The trend Im seeing is a ton of young workers. Id like to call these companies out. What are you doing about age discrimination. In a recent job I had my age was brought up at least 3 times. Im only 45. Jason Alba (@jasonalba) August 14, 2019 Truth. My age was brought up THREE times by an executive. That is three times too many. My age was once called during a meeting with about eight people for being much older than everyone else in the meeting. I was one of the old guys. The insinuation was that I was not up to speed on how things were done. I was too shocked to know how to respond to that, and kept quiet. Another time I was told that my resume needed to be different, and better, than what younger people could have. I was too old to have a regular resume. Would I like another set of eyeballs to look at my old man resume? How do you respond to that? Maybe I could go to HR right? Yeah, right. Theres a lot of talk in the tech space about females in technology (as developers) and in management (at the executive level and on boards). I would like to piggyback on the discrimination conversation. Not to hijack it or take anything away from the  topic of discrimination against females, but I want to hear what companies, especially tech companies, say about old people. Old, as in thirty to seventy. Age discrimination is REAL. I feel sorry for all of the hip and cool youngsters who are happily employed now they have no idea the hell theyll face when they are in their forties and beyond, looking for a job. Theyll be outdated and washed up. So where are you, leaders? What do you have to say? What  are you doing about age discrimination? From where I sit, you are doing nothing. You are complicit.  Please, prove me wrong. I imagine Im going to hear one thing from you: #crickets Calling All Cool Companies Why Do You Discriminate Last year I applied for a product management job at a local SaaS company. It was one of those best places to work companies one that had Silicon Valley wages (which is a big deal where I live), and got all kinds of recognition for their cool software. As I was doing company research I found a picture of their team. There were maybe about a hundred people in the picture. After scanning the picture for about a minute I realized: I would never get hired there. Why? Because Im 45, not 25. If you are in your 50s or 60s you are shaking your head saying 45? Thats young! Its not young to recruiters, or hiring managers, or company owners. Its old. That company picture showed a team of about 100 people, all of which looked like they were in their 20s. Look, I dont hate young people. But I do hate discrimination. The most blatant and widespread discrimination I see for job seekers is age discrimination. It could be because most of my audiences are first Baby Boomers, then Gen X, and I might get one or two Millennials. I  hear about the problem when I speak loud and clear! Last night I was  checking twitter and  this issue came up. I wrote this: Just watched a video from a best places to work company. The trend Im seeing is a ton of young workers. Id like to call these companies out. What are you doing about age discrimination. In a recent job I had my age was brought up at least 3 times. Im only 45. Jason Alba (@jasonalba) August 14, 2019 Truth. My age was brought up THREE times by an executive. That is three times too many. My age was once called during a meeting with about eight people for being much older than everyone else in the meeting. I was one of the old guys. The insinuation was that I was not up to speed on how things were done. I was too shocked to know how to respond to that, and kept quiet. Another time I was told that my resume needed to be different, and better, than what younger people could have. I was too old to have a regular resume. Would I like another set of eyeballs to look at my old man resume? How do you respond to that? Maybe I could go to HR right? Yeah, right. Theres a lot of talk in the tech space about females in technology (as developers) and in management (at the executive level and on boards). I would like to piggyback on the discrimination conversation. Not to hijack it or take anything away from the  topic of discrimination against females, but I want to hear what companies, especially tech companies, say about old people. Old, as in thirty to seventy. Age discrimination is REAL. I feel sorry for all of the hip and cool youngsters who are happily employed now they have no idea the hell theyll face when they are in their forties and beyond, looking for a job. Theyll be outdated and washed up. So where are you, leaders? What do you have to say? What  are you doing about age discrimination? From where I sit, you are doing nothing. You are complicit.  Please, prove me wrong. I imagine Im going to hear one thing from you: #crickets

Using Clipart in Resume Writing and Interviewing

Using Clipart in Resume Writing and InterviewingClipart is used in many things, and it has many uses and applications that many people are not aware of. When you are searching for clipart, the most important thing you need to know is that this image can be used for many things; such as a resume writing and interviewing, or just simply putting into your portfolio.What you need to know about clip art is that it is used for many purposes. A lot of people think that these images are only being used for resumes, but you can also use these images in your portfolio, when you are interviewing other people, and even for other things. The reason why these images can be so useful is because of the fact that they come in many shapes and sizes, which make them all the more appealing to the eyes.Now, what kind of clipart are you looking for? First off, I would like to tell you that you should get free clipart because it is what everyone else is using, and it is not worth paying for. So, where do y ou find the best sources of free clipart? Well, you need to search for them online.There are many people who have been scammed and they are scammed by this Internet in which they have to pay to put their resume on. This is very common and it happens all the time. If you want to avoid this, then I would suggest that you look for professional websites with sites that will give you quality images for free.You can find these types of sites on photo sites and these sites have a directory of images, but you will not find all of them. So, if you really want to use the images that are in the directory, then you will have to pay a fee to get the images. And if you are willing to pay a fee, then you should be prepared to wait for the images.The best way to go about it is to join one of the professional websites and register. Once you become a member, you will have a wide variety of images, which you can use as you wish. You can even save them, and you can put them on your computer for your ow n use.You can also use these images for another thing. They can also be used for interview as well. Even if you are using clipart as your image for the resume, you can still use it for interviewing and if you don't want to use it as your personal profile, then you can save it for your portfolio.Clipart is not just used for resumes anymore. You can use these images for both resume writing and interviewing purposes.

Personal Branding is About the Person - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding is About the Person - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Can you imagine going a week without access to your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or YouTube accounts? Some of us actually make a conscious choice to take some time away from posting on a wall, tweeting, joining a new circle, or uploading a new video clip. We need that time away from our online networks to get out into the real world. Being Cut Off Now imagine someone blocking you from your social media networks. You innocently try to log into your account and your access is denied. I was reminded of this on a business trip to China. For one week I was blocked from all my accounts no tweets, no likes, no social contact! I literally felt cut off from the world and after a few days it almost felt like symptoms of social media withdrawal had started to set in. Social media had become such a regular part of my daily life that without it I felt naked! Building a successful personal brand requires an active social media presence to ensure you are digitally distinct, not digitally dissed. If you are not on social media, your brand runs the risk of being invisible which is literally how I felt for that week in China. So much of my own branding is invested in social media that my friends, followers, fans, and circles thought I had disappeared off the face of the earth. I even had one of my Twitter followers jokingly tell me after I was able to tweet again that she was going through her own kind of withdrawal from not seeing my tweets. Life Before Social Media This experience was eye-opening. How did we socialize and identify ourselves before social media? While social media tools have certainly helped to catapult personal branding into the mainstream, we have to remember that Tom Peters seminal 1997 Fast Company article, The Brand Called You, was not a 140 character tweet! Before we had online social networks we identified ourselves by our offline social clubs, sport teams, community groups, or school band. So while services such as Twitter and Facebook may be useful tools to build an online identity and communicate your personal brand, they certainly did not create the need for humans to form communities. Physical human interaction is in our bones and Tom Peters intention most certainly was for us to brand ourselves face-to-face at the next job interview, job fair, conference networking event, or cocktail party. Personal Branding is About the Person While technology has definitely been a catalyst for the evolution of personal branding, we cannot forget the person.  We need to always remember to keep the human side of our personal branding efforts active and healthy. When creating your brand communication plan keep a good balance between online social networking efforts and offline physical personal efforts such as talking at your local library, speaking at a meet up, presenting at a conference, or attending networking parties. At the end of the day what ultimately  matters is how we engage and use technology to communicate and manage our personal brands, AND how we walk away from technology when needed to ensure the human side is always first and foremost. You might get a foot in the door at a company due to your awesome LinkedIn profile, but it is your physical presence and how you engage and use your personal brand in person that will ultimately seal the deal! After all, it would not be personal branding without the person.  Author: Peter  Sterlacci  is known as “Japan’s personal branding pioneer” and is one of only 15 Master level Certified Personal Branding Strategists in the world. He is introducing a leading global personal branding methodology to companies and careerists in Japan and adapting it for the Japanese culture. In a culture where fitting-in is the norm, his mission is to pioneer a ‘cultural shift’ by helping Japanese to stand out in a global environment. His background spans over 21 years in intercultural consulting, international outreach, and global communication coaching.

Tips for SMEs to Avoid Discrimination During Recruitment

Tips for SMEs to Avoid Discrimination During Recruitment Business success depends on employees. No matter how big or small your business, fairness in the workplace is vital and that includes during the recruitment process. Discriminating during recruitment is illegal, and it doesn’t give your business the best chance of finding the most suitable person for the job. Consideration of equality and discrimination during recruitment creates a platform for hiring a more diverse workforce. Businesses benefit from promoting diversity and inclusion. Companies offering an inclusive environment for a diverse mix of employees are more likely to outperform competitors. Finding and keeping the right employees is a challenging process. Hiring the wrong employee is costly. While most employers are aware of equality legislation to protect workers in the workplace, many are less knowledgeable about the law to protect potential candidates during the application process. This article offers tips and guidance to employers for a fair recruitment and selection process. The law While there is no single piece of legislation governing recruitment, there are a number of Acts dealing with the relationship between employer and employee, including during the recruitment process. The most significant piece of legislation is the Equality Act 2010. This piece of legislation protects people in the workplace (and in wider society) from discrimination. According to employment lawyers at George Ide, pregnancy and maternity discrimination claims are among those most frequently heard at tribunals. Often employers are unsure whether applicants are obliged to reveal their pregnancy during an interview. Female applicants don’t have to reveal that they are pregnant when applying for a job. If they do tell you (or it is obvious), the pregnancy should not be taken into account when deciding if they are suitable for the role. Another emerging area of equality law is the discrimination of people undergoing gender reassignment. Any employer who discriminates against a job applicant (or employee) who has undergone, is going through or is proposing to undergo gender reassignment is acting unlawfully. The Equality Act defines nine groups of characteristics that employers must not discriminate against. These are known as ‘protected characteristics.’ Protected characteristics The nine protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act 2010 are: Age Disability Gender reassignment Marriage and civil partnership Pregnancy and maternity Race Religion or belief Sex Sexual Orientation Types of discrimination It is essential as an employer to understand how discrimination can happen. The four main forms of discrimination are: Direct discrimination: treating one person worse than another because of a protected characteristic Indirect discrimination: implementing a rule or policy which has a worse impact on someone with a protected characteristic Harassment: creating a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for someone with a protected characteristic, including bullying behavior Victimization: treating people badly or unfairly who have made a claim or have supported a complaint under the Equality Act For more information on the basics of equality and discrimination, see the ACAS guide here. Identifying the vacancy and what you say in your job advert As an employer it is important you are objective when selecting skills for a potential job vacancy and ensure they can be fulfilled by people from different backgrounds. Be specific with the skills required for the job. It can be deemed discriminatory if you use job titles such as shop girl or use words such as mature, active or energetic. Explain which skills are essential and which are desirable. Ask for skills rather than directly stating a number of years’ experience, as this discriminates against younger applicants. If you are asking for minimum qualifications, consider if they are relevant to the job. Where qualifications are relevant, add the words ‘or equivalent’ to avoid indirect discrimination. Consider if the role needs to be full-time or if you can be flexible around hours to open up an opportunity to a wider group of people. Where you advertise Whatever medium you intend to use to advertise your job vacancy, you need to be aware that targeted advertising could contravene equality in employment law. Also, just because you are using a recruitment agency, it doesn’t mean you are necessarily compliant with the law regarding discrimination during recruitment. There are lots of rules around writing job adverts. Where you advertise may inadvertently cause discrimination. If your recruitment advertising is targeted at men’s magazines, for example, this indirectly discriminates against women. Advertise across a broad range of publications and online job boards so that your advertisement reaches a wider range of people. Questions you can’t ask potential candidates You can’t ask candidates about protected characteristics, including whether they are married, single or in a civil partnership. You can’t ask for a date of birth (unless the person needs to be a certain age, such as being eighteen to sell alcohol). You can’t ask if they have any children or plan to have children. And you can only ask about health or disability if: It is essential for the job (i.e., there are requirements of the role that can’t be met with reasonable adjustments) You are enquiring whether someone needs help to take part in a selection test or interview You are using positive action to recruit a disabled person Hiring disabled staff The most common form of discrimination employers make is in failing to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. Reasonable adjustments to support disabled people means enabling disabled people to overcome any significant disadvantages they may encounter in applying for jobs and attending interviews (as well as in the workplace). As an employer, you have the right to inquire about a person’s health and disability, but there are limits in the interview stage as to what you can ask. See government guidelines on employing disabled people and people with health conditions here. For more information on reasonable adjustments see government guidelines here. And for more details on disability discrimination, read the ACAS guide here. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace matters. Diverse teams offer greater innovation and creativity, and they perform better. Inclusivity is helping to reduce the gender pay gap and is contributing to the stamping out of discrimination in the workplace. The question to ask yourself is, what kind of employer do you want to be? About the author:  Mike James  is an experienced business writer specializing in HR, tech, and cybersecurity. On the latter, he has contributed to many of the leading publications both online and in print â€" such as StaySafeOnline, GlobalSign, Tech London and more.

College Students Resume Writing Examples Need to Be Clear

College Students Resume Writing Examples Need to Be ClearCollege students must be particularly cautious in hiring a new employee, since they may end up having to fight to keep them. This is because they lack the experience of having someone in their department who's been there a long time. At this point in time, hiring a new staff member should be something that should be reserved for senior management only.The only way for these individuals to ensure that they hire the right person with the best qualifications is to find a professional resume writer. This person could take the form of a former college student, a social worker, or someone who's done community service. These individuals are able to demonstrate years of experience in applying samples from previous graduates to this new employer. Once they have those samples and the career information to go along with them, they can get down to work.One thing that they should not do is copy the sample from a brochure or a magazine cover , since it's likely that a lot of this information has already been used by other people. Instead, they need to look for a resume writing examples that have been professionally written to show what's needed. They need to be able to see that there's no error on this page, and they also need to see a real example of what they should put in a resume.It's also important for college students resume writing examples to present these things, as well as other reasons for the individual to be employed in the first place. They should also have the resume to be detailed enough that it would easily be readable even if the person was looking at it while wearing a headset in front of a large LCD screen. After all, this will be an opportunity for them to learn the skills they need to succeed.College students resume examples should also be able to make the user feel good about this person being hired. For example, they might want to include things like the people they've worked with, or the amount of projects that they've completed. They should also include a list of accomplishments that they feel would help an employer decide whether or not they should hire them.When looking for a college students resume writing examples, they should also have to take into account the ability of the candidate to write. This is very important, because the resume needs to be written well enough that it would look professional on its own, and it needs to have a list of words that will make the readers understand the information. They should also include words that are meaningful to them and that they can relate to.Students need to look for resume writing examples that outline all of the skills they will need in order to be successful in this field. They also need to focus on the things that they should be able to do when they're hired. This is so they won't have to keep wondering about what they'll be doing.College students resume writing examples can include any or all of these things. However , they need to be clear about the skills they should have, as well as about the ways in which they can use them, and then they can be more confident about their chances of succeeding.

A Review on Lack of Engagement in the Workplace

A Review on Lack of Engagement in the Workplace In 2015, only 32 percent of employees were engaged at work meaning they were happy with their employment. Millennials were the least engaged at work and the most likely to be actively looking for employment elsewhere.American businesses spend between $450-$550 billion annually on actively disengaged employees. There are several causes for disengagement in the workplace including stress, employee burnout and lack of teamwork. Sixty percent of employees stated their jobs contribute to significant amount of stress in their life and 38 percent of Americans feel overwhelmed at work.Companies that actively engage their employees reap major benefits. They outperform their peers by 147 percent in earning per share, have products with less quality defects and fewer safety incidents. Businesses with high engagement also have less turnover and less absenteeism from their employees. Sixty-nine percent of employees say an environment that facilitates teamwork is the number one reason of high prod uctivity.evalFortunately there are techniques companies can use to create a more engaging workplace. Executives can create retention strategies focused on culture, teamwork and communication, because 76 percent of employees under 30 want their employer to do more with employee engagement. Companies should also hire and train the best managers available since they account for the variance in employee engagement scores.Employee engagement is an important part of having a successful business and retain productive employees. To learn more about how to engage your employees check out this resource from the University of Southern California Applied Psychology program.

Book review Life on the line - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Book review Life on the line - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Solange de Santis is a journalist whod never held a blue collar job in her life. She wondered what it would be like, so she took such a job. For a year and a half! Now thats commitment. But its also something more. What drove her was partly curiosity about a different work environment and the desire to show that she could overcome a completely new set of challenges but her book Life on the line which describes her experience also shows that there is more to it. The blue collar life has an attraction that shines through almost every page of the book. It may be rough, dirty, physically demanding and underpaid. But it is also challenging, giving and lets you meet many fascinating people. Solange got a job at a GM van factory that was slated to close 18 months in the future, and this added to the intensity and relevance of the experience. What happened to the 2700 people working at the GM Scarborough is happening again and again in companies all over the world. And if there is one lesson, that I take from the book, it is that the stereotypical view of factory workers is dead wrong. Many if the people she meets are dedicated, hard working, highly skilled and creative. But the way they work offers them no opportunity to use those sides of themselves. Theyre locked in a tight battle between management and unions that actually has them cheering when production stops, giving them an unexpected break. This is not what theyre naturally like its a reaction instilled in them by an inhuman system. Solange made it through some very tough times (especially at the beginning) and I have the deepest admiration for her, for having stuck with it. The resulting book is fascinating I almost couldnt put it down, I constantly had to know what would happen next. Its also a fascinating glimpse of a different work environment that most white collar workers will never see for themselves. Managers would gain immensely from reading the book to get a view of management seen from below. The book is especially relevant for our work in the Happy At Work Project, because most of our customers so far have been white collar companies. This begs the question: Will the same methods work for blue collar workers? And after having read Solanges book I remain convinced that they will. The difference between the white and blue collar people is much smaller than we think. And in the end we all have the same ambition for work: That it will make us happy! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related

How Can You, Uh, Communicate Better -

How Can You, Uh, Communicate Better - In job hunting and in everyday life, there arent many things more important than the way you communicate. When I coach clients, I encourage them to plan and rehearse certain information that is common to the job hunt. For example, everyone should have an elevator pitch. Job seekers should be able to answer the what is your weakness question without missing a beat. However, my cyber friend Walter Akana reminds us in his blog post, Conversations Without A Net, “we live in an unscripted world.” While there are a lot of things we can rehearse and plan, other times, we just need to be able to communicate effectively on our feet. Sometimes, its easier said than done! Thats why I wanted to share information from Joey Ashers blog, Speechworks. His recent post, How to, Like, Eliminate Filler Words, offered some terrific tips for anyone trying to improve their communication skills. The following is a condensed version of the tips in Joeys post: Ums” make us sound uncertain and ignorant We’re afraid that if we get quiet, someone will interrupt us and we’ll lose our “conversational turn.” However, “filler words” are universally seen as signs of uncertainty and even ignorance. One social scientist has shown than the words make us sound less intelligent. Robert Gifford, Ph.D., of the University of Victoria in British Columbia., taped high school kids answering tough questions and then played the tapes for other students. The students that avoided the “uhs” were perceived to be smarter. To eliminate filler-words, first you have to notice them. Most people don’t even hear their filler words. Why don’t we hear the words? It has to do with our “reticular activation system.” This is the part of our brain that filters out unnecessary sensory data. If we’re driving down the road, we can’t pay attention to every sensory input that passes through our line of sight. Otherwise, we’d get distracted and crash. Our reticular activation system helps us stay focused on what’s important. Similarly, we don’t hear every “um” or “er”. How can we notice the fillers? We can program our reticular activation system to “let in” certain things. When I bought a silver Honda Accord several years ago, I immediately began seeing silver Accords everywhere. I had programmed my brain to “let in” Honda Accords. Similarly, you can program your brain to notice the “ums” and “ers”. Put a rubber band around your wrist as a reminder. Once you notice the words, pause and force yourself to speak faster Once you start noticing the words, the rest is easy. When you feel a filler word coming, just pause. Close your lips as you figure what to say next. And try speaking faster. Speaking faster eliminates filler words by giving you less time to substitute the “uhs” and “ers.” Don’t let filler words “clutter” up your speech and make you sound uncertain and ignorant. With just a little focus, you can be sounding smooth and confident. If you want to receive free up-to-date tips to help with your job hunt, Click here to subscribe to receive future blogs sent directly to you! Visit Keppie Careers online for free advice and information about our services:www.keppiecareers.com.