Signature Source Blog

Work/Family Life Balance

While some people complain that working with children at home is hard, studies have found that it’s actually easier to balance family needs when you’re at home. You’re there to care for your child rather than scrambling to get back home.

Decreased Hierarchical Work Models

With remote work, more equality in work is also encouraged. There’s no specific seating order at a meeting table and nobody feels like someone has more power since everyone is communicating through video.

Cons Of Remote Work

Lack Of Communication Trust

It can be hard to build trust between colleagues when you’re constantly communicating virtually. Tsedal Neeley, the author of Remote Work Revolution, said:

“Unlike in person, where the ideal time you spend with your coworkers inevitably leads to serendipitous discoveries about one another, in the remote format you have to make a point of sharing your personal side.”

Harder To Collaborate

Many people who have been working remotely for a while now know how easy it is for things to get lost in translation through email, Slack, etc. Of course, there are tools that can be utilized, but these have a learning curve and will take some time to get used to. It’s important for the team or organization to make sure that these tools work for employees.

Missed Office Interactions

One of the obvious downsides to remote work is in-person interaction. Many leaders have said they “manage by wandering around,” and interacting with colleagues can boost employee happiness and overall well-being.

Decreased Customer Service

While not all jobs require meeting customers in person, some do see an increase in better customer relationships. For example, retail settings pretty much depend on interacting with customers, and without that, customers may be left feeling unsatisfied.

The pros and cons of remote work are all something that companies should be considering. As more people ask for work-from-home options or companies consider hybrid options, it’s important to make sure that the transition and communication with your employees are clear. Signature Source is your resource for recruiting the most highly desirable talent and work as your consultant for organizational development solutions. We can help with some of these remote work questions and concerns. Check out our website for more information. Besides helping with remote work arrangements we also have experience with resume creation, analysis of job descriptions, compensation evaluation, and more!

Tips For Refreshing Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile

As the economy opens up again, companies are starting to hire, but what if you haven’t worked in awhile? You might be feeling unsure of how to dip your toes back into the hiring field, we’re here to help!

One of the most important steps you need to do is update your resume and LinkedIn account. Signature Source defines an effective resume as one that can “show the potential employer that you understand the needs of their business and are qualified for the position desired.” So where do you start?

Determine your resume’s focus

What career direction do you want to go in? If you don’t have a clear vision of what you want from your next job, then your resume will not resonate with employers. If you’re interested in getting into the food industry, tailor your resume to that. Sending a hiring manager a resume you used when you worked in finance isn’t going to cut it. If you have different career interests, it’s best if you create different versions of your resume.

Research the industry you’re trying to get into

This means talking to people in your interested field and looking at jobs listed in your target industry to get a sense of what employers are looking for. Are there certain keywords or phrases that seem to be cropping up in all the job descriptions? Add those in. Are there things in your old resume that are not appearing in job descriptions anymore? Take those out. Are you going to need to enroll in classes or learn new skills to be competitive in your field? Think about learning new skills!

Develop a strong career objective

The Career Objective highlights your key skills and shows how you can contribute to a company.

If you’re staying within your current career field, writing a compelling career summary is very important. It’s a great way to highlight the experience you already have and valuable skills you can bring to the table.

If you’re looking to change fields, emphasize the skills you learned in your old career and how they can be applied to a new area of interest. For example, your old career objective could say:

Seeking a challenging position with a future-oriented company offering opportunities for growth and advancement.

But your new career objective might be:

Dynamic public speaker/presenter with advanced technical knowledge, seeking to leverage these strengths as an award-winning computer instructor into an entry-level software sales position.

Examples from Monster

Highlight the results and outcomes of your achievements

It’s important to list what your projects and jobs were, but were you actually successful at them? It’s nice to know that you maintained workstations and specific systems, but listing specifics will really make you stand out. Maybe you could talk about how you improved system efficiency by 90% or that you brought 50% more workstations to your company. Use action verbs and numbers, percentages, etc., to provide solid proof.

Add some style to your resume

This doesn’t mean using bold colors and wonky fonts; rather, you should use one of the many templates that are available to you. This will format your resume in a nice way and usually includes underlining, italics, useful icons, etc.

Pro Tip: proofread, proofread, proofread

Remember that your resume should be flawless. Make sure your proofread it so you can catch any grammar, punctuation, or word errors. Ask for feedback on your resume and have several different people look it over.

LinkedIn is essentially a digital resume, so a lot of the above steps are still relevant but with a few tweaks.

Make sure your Headline and About sections are updated

These sections are the most important since they’re the first things that people will read. Be sure to utilize all the space and use relevant keywords as this is what people will be searching for.

Be sure to add media

One of the great things about having a digital resume is that you can add hard proof of projects you’ve worked on. Upload videos, presentations, PDFs that showcase the work you’ve done.

Keep your Experience section up-to-date

Make sure this section reflects your most recent career changes and work. Add start and end dates, and add descriptions.

Send requests to connect with people in your career field

Connect with other people in your company as well as people that are in the same groups as you are. If you notice that there’s a group that seems relevant to your field, join it! Follow companies or organizations that you like and see if you’re able to make connections that way. Comment on their posts and engage with the community, which shows that you’re an active member and are passionate about xyz.

If you liked this blog post, Signature Source also offers services to help you with your resume. Check out our website or email us at contactus@signature-source.com

More than 15 Years of Innovative Global Mobility Recruiting Solutions!

Global Mobility Personnel

Signature Source is proud to celebrate more than15 years of assisting companies and job seekers. We’ve been honored to work with candidate recruiting and consulting needs. We serve the global mobility and relocation industry working hard to ensure we pair the right talent with the right job and company.

OUR CLIENTS

Our clients trust us because we “walk the walk”: each member of our Signature Source Global Executive Recruiters is made up of people who have had careers in the relocation industry, adding up to over 60 years of insight and experience. We sympathize with the unique nature of the industry because we have held, managed, and/or partnered with many of the positions we fill.

Signature Source has supported the talent management and recruiting process for over 45 leading global mobility organizations and for good reason: with a proprietary talent database of more than 7,000 candidates, our expertise has created a stronger foundation for both clients and candidates for the past 15 years.

OUR CANDIDATES

Our candidates believe in us because Signature Source professionals focus on four very important values:

Respect
Trust
Confidentiality
Customer service

We pride ourselves on taking the time to listen to candidates’ career aspirations, provide honest recommendations, and guide them through the interview and offer process.

Our Executive Recruiters at Signature Source have had long-standing relationships with people in the mobility and relocation industry, which means candidates can trust us to help them in the best way we can. We also make sure we take the utmost care and protection when it comes to clients’ resume/CV submissions. We take discretion in the hiring process seriously and in doing so, we are committed to the highest level of respect for our candidates as well as our clients.

Customer satisfaction is essential to what we do. Signature Source Global Executive Recruiters would like to thank our clients and candidates that have trusted us for the last 15 years. From accounting to human resources to marketing, we’ve learned from all of you and appreciate our relationships as we enter into 2021.

We would love to learn more about your business – let’s start a conversation by contacting us here: Contact Signature Source

Navigating the New Digital Divide

Navigating the new digital divide

It’s no surprise that the pandemic has changed the way people live their lives. From grocery shopping to traveling to socializing, 2020 and 2021 has seen a lot of changes, most dramatically in the job sector. The majority of people are working from home and it seems to have created a bit of a digital divide between employers and employee expectations.

This digital divide is mainly focused on employee experience, which is defined as “the journey each employee takes with a company, including everything from company culture to the work environment to day-to-day technology.” According to a Gallagher survey, employers are working to enhance employee experience, specifically the areas of “employee mental health and wellbeing (70%), diversity, equity, and inclusion (55%), and ‘new ways of working’ (52%).” Given that the pandemic has created a growing number of remote employees, more companies have been using technology and data to address employee needs in a more targeted way.

In a recent article from Korn Ferry, it was found that

older executives liked remote work so much that they’re thinking about delaying retirement. Granted, the pandemic still brings its own stresses, but according to Kevin Cashman (Global Leader CEO and Executive Development at Korn Ferry), they’re worth working through compared to the stresses that come with having to go into the office.

It’s surprising since a recent Oracle study showed that stress levels are higher for executives versus all employees (85% for top bosses compared to 77% of employees). Cashman says that these executives figure “If I’m still showing value and getting a good paycheck, why not [stay]?” Because of the rapid shift to a remote work environment, employers now have the added stress of making sure their employees have the right technology and communication channels (e.g. mobile messaging apps, Zoom, etc.).

Christian Hasenoehrl (Korn Ferry Senior Client Partner and the firm’s Global Account Leader for the Consumer and Industrial sectors) says many company boards and leaders want to reshape their core team of executives, paving the way for a more diverse, high-potential leadership. Currently, millennials are the largest workforce group, with women and minorities leading the charge.

Hasenoehrl says that companies’ digital transformation has been accelerated, so boards are offering more enhanced voluntary retirement packages and other incentives to get older executives off the company payroll and make way for younger tech-saavy talent. However, this isn’t to say that age plays a role in determining success of remote work. When looking back on the Gallagher survey, it was found that organizations and the majority of their employees were both feeling overwhelmed with digital options across the board.

So what can be done about bridging this digital divide, no matter employee’s age or work experience? According to Worldwide ERC, “employers can bridge the digital divide and improve upon internal communication in the remote environment by first defining what digital employee experience means for the organization to enable leaders to take more cohesive actions.” Since leaders tend to be older, it might make sense to talk through an overall digital employee experience and organizational communication. What specific communication needs to be done about aligning digital platforms with communication goals? What needs to be done to ensure flexibility and compatibility across the company? Does your workforce and leadership need to be assessed again? Figuring out the answers to these questions can improve overall digital employee experience and organizational communication, and solidify your organization’s success going forward.

We’ve been in the Global Mobility Recruiting industry for over 15 years, we’d love to learn more about you and your company. Let’s schedule a short chat by contacting us here: https://signature-source.com/contact/