BlogmyQuery – BMQ

It’s never too early to start planning as a business leader. That’s especially the case when you’re planning to add talent to your company in the coming year. One of the best places to snag tomorrow’s managers and executives is on college campuses. But you need to plan your strategy to source, recruit, and retain high performers soon. That way, you can stay ahead of your competition.

Before you lay out your process for wooing freshly degreed Gen Z employers, you need to keep a few things in mind. First, this generation is eager to make their mark. As noted in a Girls With Impact Report from 2019-2020, nearly two-thirds of Gen Z would like to change the world. Beyond being a lofty goal, it shows how determined your youngest workers could be. Secondly, Gen Z knows it’s a buyer’s labor market. Even though jobs aren’t as plentiful as they were, candidates still have a bit of an upper hand. This is particularly true in high-demand industries like tech.

With these considerations in mind, your objective is to find creative ways to scoop up fresh talent from 2023’s graduating cohorts. Below are some suggestions to help guide your hiring roadmap.

1. Get your company in front of prospective graduates early and often.

Don’t wait until late spring to put on a recruitment push at colleges. By then, the best people will already either have job offers on the table. Consider the 2021 graduates at High Point University (HPU) in North Carolina. The institution doesn’t just boast a 98% employment rate for its grads within six months. Quite a few graduates have roles waiting for them after all the celebrating is over. It’s not surprising, given HPU’s commitment to focusing on enhancing its student population’s career and professional development skills.

How can you start getting noticed by college seniors? Most colleges have career-related departments or offices. Contact them and find out if the school will be hosting virtual or in-person fairs or events. Or, find out how you can get your job postings in front of soon-to-be grads. Making a connection with schools is a terrific way to start the recruitment process.

2. Make the candidate journey as digital as you can.

Generation Z is the first generation to be considered “digital natives.” They’re accustomed to doing everything on their devices, including applying for jobs. The last thing they want is to have to fill out a paper form or make an unnecessary phone call. And remember that they’re studying hard, so they may prefer to apply when it’s convenient for them.

How can you ramp up the digital aspects of your hiring experience? For one, be sure that it’s simple to submit an application and supporting documents online. Next, keep all communication fast and digital, at least initially. Emails and text messages are good ways to acknowledge that you’ve received information or two set up meetings. For your first round or two of interviews, consider making Zoom or Teams your format of choice. This makes it easier for you to source candidates from anywhere and for candidates to practice their online interviewing. The more touchpoints you can turn digital, the more intuitive the workflow will be for your applicants.

3.  Offer continuing development opportunities for new employees.

When asked, almost three-quarters of Generation Z and Millennial workers said they were considering leaving their employers. The reason for their discontent might surprise you: They wanted opportunities to keep learning. Unfortunately, they didn’t feel they were getting them from their current company. So they were looking around for a place that would help them upskill and, if needed, reskill. 

New graduates might be a little burned out on writing papers and taking tests. Nevertheless, they’re typically still enthusiastic about gaining knowledge. With this in mind, you should come up with robust training beyond the onboarding period. The training could be anything from covering the cost of certification programs to setting up formal executive-employee mentorships. Just make sure that you let all candidates know about the continuing education they can expect as team members.

4. Add student loan repayment assistance as a corporate benefit.

What do Aetna, Carvana, and Google have in common? Aside from being big businesses, they all help employees pay off their student loans. The average college graduate who took out loans owes more than $28,000. Though that number might not seem terribly high, it can seem daunting. Offering a little assistance to new employees may make top talent think twice about saying yes.

In addition to student loan repayment offers, think about other benefits you might add as well. These could include flexible work schedules, pet health insurance, generous parental leave, unlimited (or liberal) paid time off, and plenty of retirement options. Why retirement vehicles? Gen Z was brought up during the Recession of 2008 and 2009. As a result, many college grads want to start planning for financial freedom later when they retire. 

5. Lead with your corporate purpose.

Think back to all those Generation Z graduates who want to do something big during their lifetimes. One way to show you support them is by telling them about your company’s purpose. A strong purpose can have swaying power with Gen Z job seekers. For example, let’s say your business is passionate about moving toward lowering its carbon footprint. That type of purpose could be attractive to a recent graduate who cares about the environment. 

If you don’t already have a corporate purpose, it’s time to come up with one. Your purpose won’t just be a beacon to applicants. It will send a message to customers, too. Consumers have changed the way they shop. More than ever, they want to support mission-driven organizations. By creating and advertising your company’s purpose, you may simultaneously attract terrific young workers and improve buyer loyalty. Talk about a win-win!

It won’t be long before the next round of college graduates enters the workforce. With some planning, you can ensure the brightest members of the class of 2023 start their careers on your payroll. 

The post 5 Ways That Recruiters Can Scoop Up Top Talent from the Class of 2023 appeared first on noupe.

Every business is unique. And because of this, every team is unique too. Within your own company, you may very well have various team structures, staffing protocols, and managing principles. This makes sense, as different roles and responsibilities have different needs from an organizational point of view. 

Like it or not, there is no cookie cutter method for recruiting and staffing the best team. It takes work and can be a constantly evolving process. Recruiting in itself is a challenging task, particularly now during the era of The Great Resignation. More and more employees are rightfully asking for very specific accommodations. They want to work for companies that value them first as human beings and second as dedicated employees. 

With all this in mind, recruiting specific talent for your team isn’t easy. Certain roles like content creators and marketing managers may be more readily recruitable. On the other hand, roles like front end developers and designers can be more tricky to find. If you’re in this sticky position of hiring individuals for more niche titles, keep reading. Below are four ways to recruit specific talent for your team’s most niche roles. 

1. Ask for Assistance

First and foremost, don’t be afraid to ask for assistance. It’s also important to ask far and wide. First, ask the hiring manager what they think is the best way to find the potential new employee. They may have experience in finding these types of recruits from previous roles. The hiring manager may also have a network to tap into that could be useful for your hiring team. 

Second, lean on resources for your specific needs. Engineering staffing agencies, for instance, can assist in finding top engineering talent based on their diverse pool of individuals looking for jobs. These types of agencies can help HR teams and hiring managers find the perfect match. This can be beneficial for startups, who may not have the namesake yet, to be found by interested employees. Well known companies also stand to benefit as staffing agencies are also a great resource for HR teams who need to hire multiple individuals within the same field. 

2. Tap into Social Media

One of the first places someone turns to when they are seeking a new job opportunity is social media. They want to see what types of positions are available and what kinds of benefits are being offered. Your recruiters should be on social media, particularly sites like LinkedIn, posting about new offerings weekly. Creating this kind of buzz online ensures that your company is putting the word out that you are hiring. 

In addition to sites like LinkedIn, it’s also important to post job offerings on other platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and even Instagram. Word of mouth is another key aspect of hiring, and someone who sees a niche role may share it with one of their friends or family members. Again, it’s all about creating awareness. If you don’t share publicly that you are hiring for these niche roles, nobody will know that you are in need of a full stack developer, for example. 

3. Offer an Employee Referral Incentive 

Your current employees likely know the top talent. Many have had prior experiences before coming to work at your company. And with these experiences, they have likely met some incredible people that may be great matches for your company. In order to get these referrals, it can be beneficial to offer an employee referral incentive. These types of incentives can be a reason for employees to share about open positions on their own social channels too. 

The key to creating this incentive is to make it as easy as possible for referrals to happen. Luckily, there are several software platforms and tools that can help streamline this process. Let you employees know what the incentive is, whether it is an added bonus to their paycheck or extra vacation days. Also, overly communicate with your employees when a niche position is available. You may even think about upping the incentive for filling more challenging roles — an extra incentive is always going to be welcome!  

4. Look Internally

Yes, certain niche roles like those in the designer field or engineering world require a specific set of skills. But perhaps you have a new role for a “never-been-done-before” position. In these cases, it’s not a bad idea to look internally. Your current employees know the most about the company, including how to navigate current processes and set up new ones. They understand what’s expected from the team and the company’s overarching goals and values. 

If you decide to look internally, be sure to still follow a proper interview process. You likely will also want to have external candidates to interview along with internal ones. This can help the hiring team compare and contrast the necessary skills. There are always benefits to hiring internally, mainly that it can lead to a quicker transition process and more dedicated staff. Your employees as a whole may be more dedicated to work for a company where internal shifts are not only possible but valued. 

Takeaways

Hiring is not an easy process. Again, it takes time to find true talent. For niche roles, it can take a lot longer to find someone that can do the job well and wants to work for your company. Don’t give up just because it takes longer than usual. The right individual is out there; it’s just a matter of finding them! 

By utilizing these tips, recruiters will have a better chance of finding the best possible employee as quickly as possible. Having a plan and leaning on different resources, including current employees, are helpful tactics to utilize. Also, know that other companies are in the same boat. Speak with other company and industry leaders to get a sense of how they are recruiting. Because at the end of the day, the more people that know you are hiring the better chances you have of finding your dream candidate.

The post 4 Ways to Recruit for Your Team’s Most Niche Roles appeared first on noupe.

In today’s competitive marketing landscape, quality content is more important than ever. Your target audience has thousands of brands to pick from. If you want them to choose you over the competition, you need to find ways to engage them online. 

Educational content is one of the most effective ways to improve audience engagement, drive sales, and ultimately grow your business. Outlined below are seven methods to educate and engage your target audience through content. 

1. Optimize Your Blog for SEO 

Blogging is one of the most popular forms of content marketing. Blog posts help drive high-quality traffic to your website and build trust with prospective buyers. 

Typical business blog content covers topics that interest your clients and provides answers to commonly asked questions. To make the most of your blogging efforts, it’s important to follow a few best practices for search engine optimization. These SEO tactics will help drive more traffic to your website. 

When creating content, include relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for. Avoid “keyword stuffing,” though — it’s off-putting to the reader, and it won’t fool Google. Rather, strive to incorporate keywords in the most organic way possible. To help keep people on your site and increase the chances of turning readers into leads, incorporate internal linking into every blog post. 

2. Provide Guides 

Think of guides as longer, more in-depth blog posts. Guides provide your readers with a detailed description of a product-related topic. For example, Gabb Wireless, a wireless communications company that developed a safe phone for kids, has created detailed guides for its site. These guides focus on the topic of phone safety and offer advice for parents on how they can set tech boundaries with their kids. 

When creating a guide, you must first understand your audience’s concerns and challenges. If you’re unsure what these pain points are, reach out to your sales team and ask what questions they hear most from prospects. These questions are all potential topic ideas for your next onsite guide. 

3. Offer White Papers 

White papers and guides are often discussed interchangeably. However, there are some key differences that make white papers their own thing. While guides provide a detailed overview of a topic, white papers spend more time focusing on research and data. If your company has conducted primary research, white papers give you the opportunity to establish yourself as a thought leader within your field. 

Since white papers are data-focused, they can sometimes get the reputation of coming across as boring. But they don’t have to be. Use colorful charts to display data and avoid using a stuffy tone. Instead, keep the vibe conversational, as if you were presenting findings to a work colleague. 

4. Create Infographics 

Many people are visual learners and struggle to understand topics from blog posts alone. Infographics can be helpful tools that cater to different learning styles and provide information in an easily digestible format. An infographic is a visual representation of information designed to be understood quickly. This information may be represented in the form of graphics, pictures, charts, or a combination of the three. 

Because infographics are visually appealing, they lend themselves well to social media. But since many infographics contain a hefty amount of information, you don’t want to post the entire thing at once. Instead, break your infographic down into chunks. This makes it easier for social media users to consume and provides your social media team with more content for their content calendar. 

5. Send Newsletters 

Having a comprehensive collection of onsite content is great. But what’s the point if no one ever sees it? 

To help make sure your blog content doesn’t go unread, consider adding newsletters to your content strategy. Email newsletters help you get content to interested prospects and customers. This allows you to build credibility and authority with your target audience. 

One of the keys to a successful newsletter is keeping it simple. Your audience doesn’t have 10 minutes to spend reading your newsletter, so make it easy to skim. Check out The Hustle as an example. This daily newsletter provides readers with quick updates from a variety of industries, including tech, business, and finance. Most of the newsletters include a few short features that take less than a couple of minutes to read. 

6. Partner With Influencers 

In today’s digital age, your company’s social media presence is essential. But almost as important is who is using your product. Partnering with social media celebrities (aka influencers) can help expose your brand to new audiences. Influencers are naturally charismatic and engaging — that’s why they have huge followings. Working with these professionals aligns your brand with theirs, building a positive reputation. 

When seeking influencers to partner with, it’s important to look beyond their follower count. Scroll through their page and see if they’re engaging in meaningful conversations your company wants to participate in. Both parties’ brand values should align before you begin creating content together. 

Once you’ve chosen which influencers you’d like to work with, it’s time to make your pitch. To increase your chances of nailing a partnership, create a customized pitch for each influencer you contact. 

7. Go Live on Social Media 

Onsite content like blog posts and guides are an essential component of a successful content strategy. But your customers also want to see your products in action. 

Since COVID-19 flipped the world on its head in 2020, live streaming has risen in popularity. Research by Livestream and New York Magazine found that 80% of consumers prefer watching a company’s live video over reading a blog post. This is because live streaming gives customers the feeling of participating in an event or conversation. Pre-recorded videos don’t have that same effect. 

One simple way companies can incorporate live streaming into their content marketing strategy is by hosting weekly Instagram live videos. When creating an Instagram live video, the goal is to both educate and entertain your audience. Live Q&As lend themselves well to this format. 

Creating quality content isn’t optional. It’s essential. If you want your company to thrive, you need to look for unique ways to educate and engage your target audience. If you’re not sure where to start, try implementing the strategies listed above.

The post 7 Ways to Engage and Educate Your Target Audience appeared first on noupe.

Web designers and developers have figured out that collaboration is critical to producing a great product. The designers have the visuals, and the developers have the skills to translate them into form and function. One team can’t complete a project without the other.

Bringing a successful product to fruition involves a lot of other people as well. There are team leaders, product developers, client services, and marketing, to name a few. It takes a village of diverse talent.

Remote and hybrid work arrangements, varying areas of expertise and job descriptions, and dramatically different roles make collaboration challenging. But if you fail the challenge, you’ll likely end up with a disjointed product that makes no sense. In other words, collaborate effectively or die.

Set yourself up for success by increasing collaboration within and across teams. Here’s how.

Reach Across the Aisle

There’s a lot of lip service paid in politics to “reaching across the aisle” to pass legislation. In reality, little of that is actually done, so little policy is actually made. It’s an unfortunate impasse that renders productivity impossible.

Companies can’t afford a lack of productivity just because of the people who need to achieve it happen to have different perspectives. In fact, it is precisely the differences in perspective, skill sets, talents, and experience that generate stellar products. The key is to find a way for unlike-minded team members to work together toward a shared goal.

How does that come about? It happens with effective cross-team collaboration. And that requires that members of every team speak and be heard by every other team from start to finish.

The communication and feedback loop required for collaboration benefits from tools that encourage it, like an intuitive project management solution. You’ll need one that accommodates remote and in-house employees, real-time meetings, and asynchronous work, dreamers, and doers.

Cross-team collaboration should empower everyone to participate, monitor progress, solve problems, and weigh in with their opinions. Everybody plays. Everybody wins.

Crush Cubicles and Squash Silos

Imagine an office where every individual is working in a cubicle on one piece of a project. The seclusion inhibits the exchange of ideas, brainstorming, and team problem-solving. Even with the most talented people inhabiting each of those cubicles, the end product would feel cobbled together.

In reality, those cubicles are more likely to be home offices and asynchronous work schedules. But the same analogy applies. There is a risk of performing work in a vacuum rather than across teams.

Project management software breaks down walls real and virtual, allowing teams to collaborate in real-time. But it’s just as important for teams to be using the same project management tool rather than multiple ones. Otherwise, there will be an accumulation of information, input, and data in silos.

Data silos are problematic if not downright dangerous. Over time, they can create competition rather than collaboration among teams clinging to their “secret” data. 

A single project collaboration tool will bring every team into the same space, no matter what each team’s role is. If you want teams to talk to one another and share information, walls and silos need to be eliminated. Using one project management tool will make silo demolition a breeze.

Learn New Languages

Teams tend to speak their own languages. The lingo, jargon, and acronyms used among developers are going to broadly differ from those used by the marketing team. Additionally, if the native national languages of various team members differ, you’ll need to find a way past that barrier.

To improve cross-team collaboration, every team needs to speak the language of every other team. Fluency isn’t a requirement, but a basic understanding is. And it’s up to teams and their members to be both students and teachers in creating a shared vocabulary.

The solution is to create a glossary everyone can reference quickly and discreetly if they feel left out of the conversation. Teams should know their APIs from their KPIs and their word count from their bandwidth. Definitions should be as plain-spoken as possible.

Non-native speakers struggle with idioms, like “beat around the bush” and “think outside the box.” Include such sayings in the glossary, and make sure the global employees include theirs as well. Rather than leaving anyone out of the conversation, everyone can learn a little something new.

For teams to collaborate, they must be able to communicate, pure and simple. No one should feel confused, overwhelmed, or clueless in the process. Project-speak should be universal.

Help Others Tech Themselves

Cross-team collaboration is also strengthened when capability differences are reduced, notably where technology is concerned. The ability of some teams to use tech comfortably and fearlessly will be far different than for other teams. Those who can easily catch on the need to stop long enough to assist and support those who can’t.

If you’re a web developer, joining that first Zoom meeting during lockdown was probably no big deal. But it might have been for employees accustomed to doing business with handshakes rather than keystrokes.

Tech-savvy teams need to resist the temptation to talk over or get exasperated with other teams when using technology. If you don’t, you’ll just get frustrated for the hold-up, and they’ll get frustrated because they feel incompetent.

The disparities are more challenging now that more teams are working remotely and with more technology than ever. Before, someone struggling with software could ask a coworker down the hall to help. Now there must be a different way to troubleshoot problems and teach those employees so they can be more independent.

Tech-ableism has no place in a collaborative workplace. Those who struggle need to feel comfortable asking for help. Those who can provide it need to do so with patience and without judgment.

Break It Down

Teams share the overarching goal for a project. However, each team’s role in achieving it will look quite different, involve vastly different timelines, and require unique resources. Those varying means to an end need to be broken down into manageable chunks.

Breaking down a project in this manner accomplishes two things. First, it makes the project seem less onerous than it might otherwise appear. Second, every team’s chunks are more approachable for them and more comprehensible to other teams.

Great cross-collaboration doesn’t require every team to know how to do every other team’s tasks. What it does require is for every team to have a working knowledge of what another team has to accomplish. Moreover, every team should understand the challenges other teams will need to address to get their part done.

For example, the marketing team needs to understand, in layperson’s terms, when a project entails more complex programming. If marketing knows that, the team can have realistic expectations for when the development team’s work will be done. That also means marketing can set realistic timelines for itself.

Solid collaboration demands good timing. To get it right within your own team and across them, every team needs to serve up bite-size pieces.

Increase Collaboration, Increase Success

Empowerment, understanding, total participation, and the free flow of ideas are hallmarks of collaboration. Encouraging those among members of the same team is challenging enough. Making collaboration happen across teams is even more so.

Leveling the project field despite the myriad differences between teams is the best way to remove all barriers to success. And no barriers mean every member of every team can pull in the same direction.

The post How to Increase Cross-Team Collaboration in Your Web Development Projects appeared first on noupe.

Digital calendars, while extremely useful, can be underutilized. This is largely due to there being an overwhelming amount of digital calendars, each with their own uniquely efficient features. These features may include software integrations, personalized customizations, automated scheduling and shared calendars.

The efficiency features below are discussed in detail to give you a better understanding of just how helpful each of them can be. Besides easing the stress that busy schedules can cause, these features will also help you get more out of your digital calendar. After all, spending less time on scheduling gives you more time to do the things you love. So, here are a few simple ways to use your digital calendar more efficiently.

Utilize Software Integration Features

Software integration features are a must if you want to make the most of your digital calendar and free up some time. In a world of software integrations, why not utilize all that is available at your disposal? The more you can take advantage of automation, the more time you can free up for yourself and others.

Let’s say the calendar you use is Outlook Calendar. Microsoft Cortana, an AI software that is included in many Microsoft devices, integrates with that. Furthermore, by integrating Cortana, you can verbally schedule events to your Outlook Calendar. There are many other software integrations that are compatible with Outlook Calendar as well, like ScheduleOnce, Calendar, and QuickBooks. 

Implement Customizations

For the same reasons we adjust our rearview mirrors, we should also adjust our calendars so we can see what we need to in order to navigate successfully. Calendar customizations are a creative way to combine your schedule with your personal preferences so you can have what you need to be successful. 

Many digital calendars offer unique customizations; like being able to set color themes, customize notification settings, and even view the weather. These are just a few of the many customizations a digital calendar could offer. Honestly, customizations can really be a game-changer.

Consider Collaboration Options

Collaborating with others by means of sharing your schedule, for example, allows you to dodge the communication mishaps altogether. When you share your calendar, others can see your availability, and vice versa. Shared calendars are great for large-scale scheduling purposes, like work meetings, sporting events, class schedules, and other recurring events that thrive on successful collaboration.

Shared calendars are also useful for the times you’re only scheduling events with one or two other people. This is because you can simply see when they are busy and won’t need to ask. Just as you can see when they are busy, you can also see when they are free. This way, you can easily coordinate events with them during a mutually convenient time slot to avoid scheduling errors. Being able to share your calendar enables planning to go so much more smoothly.

Wrapping Up

No matter which type of digital calendar you decide to use, there are always some hacks to help you streamline events with ease. Moreover, by implementing the seemingly endless quantity of features available to you, you will be well on your way to utilizing your digital calendar more efficiently.

Overall, just know the impact your calendar has on your time, and understand what it is capable of when used to its fullest. While there are many digital calendars available to choose from, the most important thing to consider is how to choose one that will enable you to be as efficient as possible with your time. 

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