Tag: hiring

Hiring happy people

A Pret creationAlex over at PositiveSharing.com always has great tips and info on being happy at work, but this article on hiring happy people at the British based company Pret A Manger particularly caught my attention.

Alex pulled just the right quote from this article from The Insider blog:

“You can’t hire someone who can make sandwiches and teach them to be happy,” says Jay, “So we hire happy people and teach them to make sandwiches”

This may seem like an oversimplification, but it’s true! I’ve always felt when hiring that you are much better interviewing the person first, then worry about their skills. I’ve seen folks with more experience than I come in to a job and have a negative impact on those around them and I’ve seen folks with practically no experience come in and do wonderfully.

The full interview with Pret’s Head of Communication Jay Chapman has some fantastic content and is well worth the read. sandwich

Making your online presence speak for you

Recently I have been asked to become a contributor to the Internet Evolution blog. My first article there, Making Your Online Presence Speak for You discusses how things like forum contributions, an online resume and a personal website (like this one) can have act as an extension of your resume.

In a Web 2.0 era where a prospective employer is more likely to Google your name than to check your references, what is your online presence saying about you?

A surprising number of people still seem to fall into one of two categories when it comes to posting their profiles online: they either indiscriminately post everything about their lives, blissfully ignorant of how it may affect them in the future, or they avoid putting their name on anything online, blissfully ignorant of how an online presence could help them. If you fall into either of these categories it may be time for a change.

Check out the full article on www.internetevolution.com and join in the great discussion on the topic.

What’s in a Blog

The group I work and socialize with frequently talk about how our blogs reflect our professional experience. Judging by this recent post from Rod Boothby we’re clearly not the only ones thinking about this:

Career 2.0 is probably going to be much the same as Career 1.0; except, now, the bar is higher. Running your own blog, and making a public name for yourself is part of achieving those new heights.

Rod refers to Career 2.0 while I’ve been referring to Resume 2.0, but the ideas are the same. Your blog (if you have one) is part of your professional image. If you write about important topics in your field, share your experience and resources, and perhaps a bit about your personality you will be more appealing to employers than those who just have a two page paper resume.

Think about it. If you haven’t been on a hiring committee, get on one. It’s a good experience. You’ll notice that everyone wants to know more about the candidates: What are their interests? How deep is their experience? How do they communicate? The more of these questions you can answer before the interview process the better.

resume, resume 2.0, career, blog, hiring