I Got the Inside Scoop On the Company Before Accepting my New Job Heres Why Im Glad I Did

I Got the Inside Scoop On the Company Before Accepting my New Job Heres Why Im Glad I Did From eye contact and firm handshakes to being super prepared, we can all agree that first impressions can make or break your chances of acing a job interview. But have you ever considered that you, too, are interviewing a company as you get a feel for its culture, values and environment?Thats right the interview process goes both ways and for Rebecca Buseman, zu sich positive first impression of Terex compelled her to accept a position there over two years ago. And shes been reaping the benefits of this decision ever since.Part of what set Buseman up for success at the manufacturing company was her supportive manager, who set clear expectations and responsibilities upon her arrival. Her colleagues also treated her as a valued gruppe member from day one.Two and a half years later, Buseman is mucksmuschenstill experiencing much of the same support from the company. She recently shared with us th e learning opportunities shes taken advantage of since starting there, her favorite parts of the job and the no. 1 piece of career advice shes received.How long have you been with Terex? What about it made you first want to join?Ive been working at Terex for two and a half years. I learned of the Staff Accountant position at Global Business Services (GBS) through Robert Half, a staffing agency. Before going through the interview process, I contacted a friend who worked (and still works) at Terex to learn more about the opportunity. He spoke very highly of Terex and his work experience, so my first impression of Terex was very positive, which made it easy for me to accept the offer.Tell us a bit about your job. What are your main responsibilities in your current role, and what were you doing previously?Im in a unique situation right now in the Finance Leadership Development Program my responsibilities vary quite a lot. Initially, I was responsible for automating the process of prepar ing and distributing cost center reports. I also met with cost center managers to review their reports. What I love most about my current financial analyst role is the variety every week Im learning about new topics and tackling new challenges, which is very excitingIn my previous role, I was responsible for recording monthly and quarterly journal entries, analyzing periodic fluctuations and contributing to various projects at GBS in Waverly, Iowa. My experience as an accountant at GBS prepared me well for my current position.Tell me a bit about your first day (or week) in the Finance Leadership Development Program. What kinds of things (whether formal onboarding programs or casual interactions) made you feel comfortable?My first day was like jumping into a cold lake. Its uncomfortable when you first jump in, but you quickly adjust to the new environment. The biggest comfort for me was that my manager assigned me responsibilities right away I was treated as a valued team member from day one. Also, my colleagues were, and still are, very supportive and welcoming I really enjoy working with them.How do you feel like this experience has been reflective of your overall experience at your company? (In what other ways do you feel valued/well supported at your company?)Each role Ive had at Terex has had a different flavor. It seems like there are opportunities to challenge yourself in any role at Terex, which is what I enjoy most about working here. When I was a new team member at GBS, I was lucky to have a very supportive manager who encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone to embrace new challenges. For example, she noticed I was especially interested in a particular area and encouraged me to learn more about that area and present on the topic. The learning opportunities at Terex are endless.Whats something youre especially good at at work?Im especially good at presenting and communicating information in a clear and orderly fashion, so that its easy to und erstand and interpret. I also like to believe my spreadsheets are beautiful, concise and well organized, but Im probably biased. Ive been told Im good at digging into the details of the financial statement accounts to understand and explain fluctuations, too.Whats the first (and/or last) thing you do at work every day?When I first arrive to work, I check my email, update my action list and establish priorities. Before leaving, I review my calendar to make aya upcoming events dont fall off my radar. Recently, Ive started checking to make sure I have my phone and my badge with me before leaving the office not that Ive ever left them at work before... more than once.Ultimately, what has led you to stay at your company?I believe Im making a positive impact on the organization, which makes my work fulfilling and rewarding. I also love that my role gives me the opportunity to help others. I feel very engaged.Whats something you think most people (perhaps even current employees) dont know about your company that you think they should?Terex is a global company, which means its team members have the opportunity to connect with other team members, customers and suppliers from all over the world. As you can imagine, there are numerous travel opportunities. Last year, I participated in Terexs Guest Auditor Program, which is a 1-2 week internal audit engagement that allows finance team members to travel, work with new colleagues and learn about other areas of the business.The audit to which I was assigned took place at our GBS center in Changzhou, China. It was an incredible experience that I wouldnt have had if Terex were not a global company. Ive also worked with people from the Philippines, China, Australia, India and several U.S. states, and my current manager is from Ireland. I really enjoy working with a diverse group of people.What was the best quality of the best babo youve ever had?The best managers Ive had seem to know how to bring out the best in others. Theyve highlighted my strengths, helped me overcome challenges and most importantly, have supported me in becoming a stronger team member. Great managers are like great tour guides. They have a ton of knowledge, are eager to share their knowledge, they welcome questions and inspire you to learn more about the areas you find especially interesting.Theyre also there to support you and offer constructive feedback on your career journey, while giving you the freedom to explore and develop your strengths. In my opinion, having a supportive manager is critically important.Whats the most memorable piece of career advice youve received?Commit and give it time. When I first started working in the real world after graduation, I was under the impression that there was a perfect job out there somewhere and I simply hadnt found it. Instead of committing myself to my work, I wasted a lot of time and energy searching for a better opportunity. I ended up working for four different organizations within a t wo-year timeframe not a great way to launch a career.When I started at Terex, my dads advice was to give it time at least two years. Taking his advice, I decided to fully commit myself to my work for two years. The commitment piece was a game changer for me. I was able to make real progress in my career only after committing to it. I now focus on how I can make the most out of the opportunities that have already presented themselves to me. I used to be intimidated by the stimmt genau commitment, but Ive actually experienced much more freedom by committing to what Im doing.--Fairygodboss is proud to partner with Terex.Find a job there today

Life, Death, and Languages Skills Resume

Life, Death, and Languages Skills Resume For instance, if you are asking for work in the EU, utilize the CEFR levels. For example, if you submit an application for a Chinese-English interpreting job, you should be fluent in both languages otherwise you would bedrngnis really qualify for the position. If language is a huge region of the job requirements, put it toward the surface of your responsibility list. Although the language is exactly the same, the variation may be helpful for the hiring manager to understand. Most jobs require that you have a fundamental comprehension of computer programs like Excel and Microsoft Office, and skills in internet navigation, social networking sites and email systems. 1 Resume is a completely free one page web template that includes a smooth jQuery slide between sections of the webpage. More frequently than elend, customizing your resume does not indicate a major rewrite, but instead just a couple of tweaks. If youre trying to customize p rofessional, pre-formatted resumes, have a look at our totally free downloadable templates. If youre not certain which skills you wish to share, consider your prior experiences. Key skills are work-related skills that you will need to do a job. Hard skills arent skills that are tough to learn. They can be categorized in different ways, depending on your job title. Soft abilities, on the flip side, arent simple to quantify. They are the skills that apply to every job. In the majority of instances, your soft skills can boost your hard skills. Your transferable abilities, often called soft abilities, are skills you could apply to any job you might do, no matter the specifics. The Benefits of Languages Skills Resume The placement of your skills section is also a rather important issue to take into account. The skills summary is easily the most important portion of writing a functional resume. For that reason, its much better to highlight your abilities and the simple fact y ouve acquired multiple talents, instead of drawing attention to how youve jumped from place to position. As stated previously may also weave language training and experience into the distinctive abilities or private details list toward the base of your resume.

Next Level Talent Engagement With Video Messaging

Next Level Talent Engagement With Video MessagingAt Spark Hire, we have observed social sites like LinkedIn and Quora starting to offer users the ability to post videos. It has become pretty obvious the most engaging content on a social media site is its videos. As we have been working with video interviewing for over five years, we have received this trend with open arms. Beyond better utilization of social media, videos create more transparency between the public and a company. Further application of videos can create more personalized communication for an organizations candidates and new hires. This group elend only likes watching videos, but prefers them to gain insight into companys systems and people.Our SolutionWe added video messaging to provide our customers with a tool that empowers them to control and personalize their communication with candidates, employees, and clients without the direct aid of a marketing kollektiv. Video messages can be used at any point in the hiring process and even to more effectively communicate with current hires (i.e. onboarding, employee engagement, etc.). This can be done in one central place Spark Hires video messaging.The benefits of our new feature capitalizes on these video-forward trends. But use of video messaging can be different between in-house recruiting teams and staffing firms.Video Messaging for EmployersEmployers can use video messaging for all stages of hiring. Video messages add a level of personalization to your candidate experience and onboarding.To begin, use personalized videos to introduce candidates to the job. This can be done by a hiring manager, so candidates begin to be familiar not only with the job but their potential boss.Next, have hiring managers or team members record themselves encouraging applicants to move forward in the process. And even by sending a video message to present a formal offer.Once a new employee has been hired, use video messages to onboard them. By sending a video messag e about the schedule of their first few days, new hires are more at ease on their start date. Last, consider using video messages to personalize memos. Instead of having an email sent from HR, for instance, record leadership giving praise to employees. This makes employees feel special and engaged.Video Messaging for Staffing and Recruiting FirmsStaffing firms can use video messaging for communication to both candidates and clients.First, record and include a video introduction of the firm (or team members) in email signatures. This gives clients a face to your brand and differentiates you from competing organizations.Next, clients can record a video describing their open positions. Use these videos when presenting clients to candidates. It creates a more genuine image of the client for candidates.By updating clients with video messages, touchpoints become more personalized and engaging. And the same can be said for updating candidates.Video messages serve as a great point of differ enziation when soliciting new business. They can also promote the innovation of a brand.While these are just some ways that employers and staffing firms can take advantage of video messaging, there are many more use cases. We cant wait to see how creative our customers get with this.How It WorksLog in to Spark Hire and go to your video messages.Choose whether or not the video message will be for general use of specific to individual recipients.Record or upload a video and customize your supporting content.Finalize your settings such as expiration time frames and recipients.Send awayWhen viewed, video messages will appear on a landing page featuring your logo and colors furthering the branded experience for your candidates, employees, and clients.Through email notifications, you can also see who is engaging with you video messages and use it to you advantage in following up on your communication.As you begin to use this new feature, keep an eye out for enhancements. Were already work ing on a version 2 release so stay tunedNext StepsNow that you know a bit more about Spark Hires newest feature, why it welches created, and how it can positively impact your brand, we invite you to learn more about it here.If you are a Spark Hire customer, contact your Customer Success Hero for assistance with our video messaging feature. You can also view how to articles here.Not a Spark Hire customer? Get a live demo with one of our product experts to see the new feature and the Spark Hire platform in action.

Meeting Management Practices Help Improve Productivity

Meeting Management Practices Help Improve ProductivityMeeting Management Practices Help Improve ProductivityWe spend a lot of our work lives in meetings. In many instances, poor meeting management practices result in the unproductive use of the participants time. In a related article, we offer guidance on turning five common meeting scenarios into productive events. Here are additional ideas to support strengthening the utility, productivity, and impact of meetings. Meeting Management Key - Stand PAT Some managers employ a P.A.T. approach to meetings, requiring a Purpose, an Agenda, and a Timeframe. Arming the participants with these critical points of context ahead of the session ensures that people show up prepared to participate and support the overall intent of the meeting. A clear P.A.T. outline helps ensure a productive session. You should be able to define the purpose of the meeting in 1 or 2 sentences at most. This meeting is to plan the new marketing campaign or this me eting is to review shippings new policy for handling returns. The purpose helps ensure everyone knows why they are there, what needs to be done, and how to guide progredienz and drive for a conclusion. Set an agenda. List the items you are going to review/discuss/inspect. We like to assign a time limit to each agenda item (see below) and identify the person who isresponsible for moderating the discussion. Set a timeframe at the very least set a start and end time. We also recommend setting a duration for each item on the agenda. These should total to the overall meeting timeframe. Start Your Meetings on Time If you work in one of those cultures where people trickle into meetings all the way up until five or ten minutes after the scheduled start time, it is time to start a new trend. One firm encourages its managers to close the door at the scheduled start time, and those who are late are bedrngnis welcome to attend. While this may be more draconian than you care to act, you shou ld have no qualms about bringing the meeting to order, reviewing the purpose and confirming expectations and timing. Do not wait for stragglers to show up. When someone arrives late, dont go back and review what has already been covered. Continue with your meeting topics. This will be awkward for the straggler and improve the odds of him/her arriving on time at the next meeting. If the meeting organizer/sponsor doesnt show up on time, consider the meeting canceled and go back to work. A five to seven minute waiting period is reasonable. Odds are, the meeting organizer ran into an unexpected difficulty and would prefer you not to waste your time waiting for him/her. Keep the Meeting on Topic A good practice is to assign someone the role of keeping everyone on track during the meeting. Too often, discussions drift and then degrade to a swirl of opinions, ideas, facts, and emotions. Instead, assign the role and inform everyone in attendance that this individual will interject if an d when the discussion veers off of the agenda and specific item of discussion. In some firms, this role is referenced as the Traffic Cope, in others, Topic Keeper. Regardless of the label, the role is extremely helpful in strengthening the effectiveness and productivity of your meetings. If additional topics arise that are off-agenda but important to discuss, those should be clearly captured and placed in the parking lot for future consideration and discussion or for a discrete meeting. The meeting owner reserves the right to allow a minor divergent discussion if it supports the overall meeting purpose. Keep and Distribute Meeting Notes/Minutes Someone, other than the meeting organizer, should keep minutes of the meeting. A good recording of the minutes will include Meeting time, date, locationDescription of the purposeCopy of the agendaList of attendees and a list of those who did not attendA detailed summary listing of conclusions, action items, responsibilities and dates for completion. Many notetakers use the agenda as a guide for listing the conclusions and actions.Planned follow-up meeting if truly needed. Ideally, distribute the meeting notes as soon as possible after the conclusion of the meeting and absolutely within one business day. The minutes and notes serve as an important reminder for participants as well as an information source for other stakeholders or, for those who missed the meeting. The minutes are a great tool to leverage to remind people and teams of their committed follow-up actions. The Bottom Line It is possible that a meeting will result in a positive outcome, helping to propel projects and people forward, just dont count on it. Some diligence and deliberate strengthening of your meeting management techniques will improve your chances of driving a great outcome. Updated by Art Petty

Military Benefits

Military BenefitsMilitary Benefits

Best Companies Hiring Product Managers

Best Companies Hiring Product ManagersBest Companies Hiring Product Managers Product managers are one of the most in-demand jobs in tech these days. The best product managers have a keen ability to identify potential products, conduct market research, generate requirements and develop time-integrated plans involving a variety of teams within an organization. Its no wonder the median base pay in the U.S. is $97,709 and has grown 3.6% since last year.With millions of jobs on Glassdoor, it can be exciting (and overwhelming) to browse all of the open roles. So we took a look at this years Best Places to Work companies to see which winners are looking to hire product managers.Johnson & Johnson Where Hiring Milpitas, CA Cincinnati, OH Skillman, NJ Raynham, MA Seattle, WA & more. What Employees Say Good corporate culture and people. Strong portfolio and pipeline. Lots of opportunities to diversify experience. Career development self-directed. Good benefits. - Curre nt Product ManagerExpedia Where Hiring Bellevue, WA San Francisco, CA Austin, TX Denver, CO & more. What Employees Say Great people, great snacks, fun events, low pressure. - Current Product ManagerAdobe Where Hiring San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Lehi, UT & more. What Employees Say Great leadership, employees are valued which is exhibited via the great benefits and competitive salaries. - Current Senior Product ManagerEY Where Hiring Alpharetta, GA Hoboken, NJ London, England San Francisco, CA & more. What Employees Say The opportunities for you to dig deeper into your passions and talents allows you to impact clients, teams, and internal go-to-market solutions. The people culture is fantastic very polite, kind and decent. EY encourages leaders to lead. You also can teach classes which is aelendher way of mentoring and coaching others. - Current Senior ManagerBoston Consulting Group Where Hiring Atlanta, GA Boston, MA Chicago, IL Seattle, WA New York, NY Houston, TX & more. What Employees Say Incredibly brilliant and caring colleagues, stimulating and challenging work even on the non-consulting side, amazing training and development opportunities, full tuition reimbursement for certificate and degree programs, unparalleled medical benefits.- Current EmployeeApple Where Hiring Santa Clara, CA What Employees Say Great products. Fast paced results-oriented environment. Cutting edge. - Current Product ManagerCisco Systems Where Hiring Herndon, VA Richardson, TX San Francisco, CA Seattle, WA Milpitas, CA San Jose, CA & more. What Employees Say I interned with Cisco and got recruited straight out of my MBA. I really liked the work-life balance and flexibility at Cisco. The focus on getting the work done and not on bells and whistles is something I appreciate. There is a great diversity within the teams and the workplace is truly international. - Current Product ManagerBoston Scientific Where Hiring Marlborough, MA San Francisco, CA A rden Hills, MN Maple Grove, MN & more. What Employees Say You know the 3-4 incredible people you work with? The ones who really keep the place moving forward or create most of the organizations success? That describes everyone I worked with at BSC, from the receptionist to the division President, each and every person there is amazing - Former Senior Product ManagerIntuit Where Hiring San Francisco, CA What Employees Say Intuit is a great company with solid leadership. The company has created a mindset across the company that is consistently reinforced which focuses on customer-driven innovation and lean development methodologies. - Former Senior Product ManagerIntuitive Surgical Where Hiring Sunnyvale, CA What Employees Say Culture is great, everyone is empowered to be themselves. The technology and the sheer number of different projects going on at the same time are astounding, definitely not a company thats resting on its laurels even as the market leader in robotic s urgery. This is by far the hardest Ive ever worked in my life, and I love it. All of my colleagues are super sharp and dedicated. You can tell they put a lot of effort into hiring the right people, and it shows with the insanely low turnover rate. - Current Product ManagerGoogle Where Hiring Seattle, WA Sunnyvale, CA San Francisco, CA Mountain View, CA London, UK New York, NY & more. What Employees Say The products. Every problem is a big problem. Every product has tremendous potential. The impact. Everything needs to be moving Billions (people, $, etc). The potential is incredible - Current Product ManagerT-Mobile Where Hiring Bellevue, WA What Employees Say Environment is never dull. Leadership cares deeply about our customers and working hard at improving the culture for employees. Total benefits are explained well and are comparable to market. - Current Product EmployeeVMWare Where Hiring Palo Alto, CA Atlanta, GA Boston, MA Austin, TX & more. What Employees Say V Mware is a company that was built on Innovation with the invention of the Hypervisor. This innovation culture is still very present in every engineering group. Theres a lot of freedom to create and innovate besides a thrive to execute on the core products. Micromanagement is something that I never had to deal with in my roles at VMware. - Current Product Managerfacebook inc Where Hiring Austin, TX Menlo Park, CA Fremont, CA New York, NY & more. What Employees Say The pros and cons of working at FB are largely two sides of the same coin. FB is an incredibly intellectual place to work where decisions are made with data and reason and most (all?) ideas come to emerge from the bottom. Conversely, decisions are not made without clear data, so boldly stepping in a new direction dictated from on high is extremely difficult. - Current Product Manager

How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis

How to Conduct a SWOT AnalysisHow to Conduct a SWOT AnalysisPublished 7/11/2015 SWOT stands for Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Strengths A SWOT analysis is used to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to your company, unit or group, or a product, service or program you are responsible for. The SWOT analysis lets you focus on specific areas and discover actions that can help build on strengths, minimize or eliminate weaknesses, maximize opportunities, and deal with or overcome threats. A SWOT analysis is often conducted with a kollektiv and used to inform a strategy or strategic plan and (included as part of the appendix or supporting documentation). Teams will often start with a session on creating a shared vision, then follow-up with a SWOT analyses. See How to Align Your Team Around a Shared Vision.How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis 1. Select an individual to facilitate the SWOT analysis. While a manager, team or project leader can lead their own SWOT analysis, it is often helpful to use an independent facilitator in order to free up the leader to fully participate and not bias the input from others. 2. Brainstorm a company or units strengthsGo around the room and solicit ideas from participants. Areas of strength for a company or unit include leadership abilities, decision-making abilities, innovation, productivity, quality, service, efficiency, technological processes, and so forth. Record all suggestions on a flip chart. Avoid duplicate entries. Make it clear that some issues may appear on more than one list. For example, a company or unit may have a strength in an area such as customer service, but may have a weakness or deficiency in that area as well. At this point, the goal is to capture as many ideas on the flip charts as possible. Evaluating the strengths will take place later. See 15 Ways to Rain on a Brainstorming Session for tips on what to avoid when brainstorming. 3. Consolidate ideasPost all flip charts pages on a wall. While every effort may have been taken to avoid duplicate entries, there will be some ideas that overlap. Consolidate duplicate points by asking the group which items can be combined under the same subject. Resist the temptation to over-consolidate- lumping lots of ideas under one subject. Often, this results in a lack of focus.4. Clarify ideasGo down the consolidated list item by item and clarify any items that participants have questions about. Its helpful to reiterate the meaning of each item before discussing it. Stick to defining strengths. Restrain the team from talking about solutions at this point in the process.5. Identify the top three strengthsSometimes the top three strengths are obvious and no vote is necessary. In that case, simply test for consensus. Otherwise, give participants a few minutes to pick their top issues individually. Allow each team member to cast three to five votes (three if the list of issues is ten items or fewer, five if it is long). I dentify the top three items. If there are ties or the first vote is inconclusive, discuss the highly rated items from the first vote and vote again. 6. Summarize strengthsOnce the top three strengths are decided, summarize them on a single flip chart page.7. Repeat Steps 2-6 for weaknessesSimilar to strengths, areas of weakness for a company or unit include leadership abilities, decision-making abilities, innovation, productivity, quality, service, efficiency, technological processes, and so forth.8. Repeat Steps 2-6 for opportunitiesAreas of opportunities include emerging markets, further market penetration, new technologies, new products or services, geographic expansion, cost reduction, and so forth. 9. Repeat Steps 2-6 for threatsAreas of threat include entrance of a new competitor, legislation or regulations that will increase costs or eliminate a product, a declining product or market, and so forth. Conducting a SWOT analysis is a great way to develop a picture for where you a re and where you need to go. Following these steps gives you a process for efficiently getting results in a way that involves and energizes a team.