A Job Recruiter Can Boost Your Search

A Job Recruiter Can Boost Your SearchA Job Recruiter Can Boost Your SearchWe hear a lot about what the latest employment numbers mean for employers Business is up, prompting companies to create more positions and hire more people. So if the demand is higher than the supply of candidates, do you need to find a job recruiter?Yes, if you want a partner to give your search a boost and land a job thatll be the best fit for you.Ive worked with candidates for more than 20 years, recruiting them for roles in a variety of industries, from manufacturing and healthcare to financial services and public accounting firms. One of the first things I learned is that navigating through the volumes of online postings to conduct a thorough search is hugely time consuming. And even if time isnt an issue for you, its likely you cant access information and openings on your own that the best recruiters have.Here are some of the other advantages of working with a specialized staffing agency when youre lookin g for a job in finance and accounting. Recruiters can do the following for youGive you access to positions elend posted on job boardsThe best recruiters cast wider nets, with their extensive networks and long-term relationships with their client companies. That helps you find career opportunities that might not even be advertised.Match your career objectives with their client companiesRecruiters typically have insights into the companies and the openings theyre trying to fill. When they talk to you about your qualifications, work history and skill set, and discuss whether they fit with the role and the job description, they can match you with the accounting and finance role that best suits you.Help manage and speed up the job search processNot only do recruiters know which companies are looking for new employees they can help accelerate the hiring process. They can help you target your search and schedule interviews with hiring managers.Offer career guidance and feedback Recruiters can provide employment advice, interview tips, resume suggestions and more. If youre not chosen for a position, its tough for you to find out why, but recruiters can often give you feedback to help you strategize for your next opportunity.Share salary information for negotiationRecruiters know the market rates for the jobs youre looking for. They can also give you tips to help you negotiate your salary with your potential employer.Visit the Robert Half Salary Center, where youll be able to adjust salary ranges for your city with the Salary Calculator, and get your own copy of the Salary Guide.Help you reach your career goalsOf course, theres no guarantee youll get hired, even if you work with a job recruiter. But it cant hurt to have a one-on-one relationship with an industry specialist who not only has access to a large professional network but is also committed to your success.Here are some questions you might haveDo candidates have to pay their job recruiter? At Robert Half Finan cial Accounting, services are free for registered candidates. Fees are paid by client companies.How do you find a recruiter who specializes in finance and accounting? You can begin the process by applying for a job on the staffing agencys website. You can also contact the nearest office location to schedule an in-person, confidential interview with a finance recruiting professional.WORK WITH OUR RECRUITERSEven in todays labor market, its not easy to pinpoint the perfect position and then persuade the employer that youre the one. Getting a new job, whether its your first or your 15th, can be a challenging experience. When you work with a recruiter, youre not alone in your search.Who knows? In a few months, you could be working at a job you love. Grace Fidalgo Grace Fidalgo i s vice president at Robert Half Finance Accounting, North America. Shes worked as a staffing manager and branch manager for Accountemps and division director and field training manager for Robert Half Finance Accounting.

The real reason your boss lacks emotional intelligence

The real reason your boss lacks emotional intelligenceThe real reason your boss lacks emotional intelligenceOver the past century, the heartless, no-nonsense CEO has become something of an icon- and a clich- in American society. Hollywood would have us believe that the Machiavellian chief exec is leise alive and well.But thats just TV, right? How about in the real world? Do businesses still allow these inhumane relics to survive?Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraTo find out,TalentSmartanalyzed the emotional intelligence (EQ) profiles of the million-plus people in our database- workers from the frontlines to the C-suite. We discovered that the answer is yes, organizations today do promote the emotionally inept except when they dont. Allow me to explain.We found that EQ scores climb with titles from the bottom of the corporate ladder upward toward middle management. Middle managers stand out with the highest EQ scores in the workplace because companies tend to promote people into these positions who are level-headed and good with people. The assumption here is that a manager with a high EQ is someone for whom people will want to work.But things change drastically as you move beyond middle management.For the titles of director and above, scores descend faster than a snowboarder on a black diamond. CEOs, on average, have the lowest EQ scores in the workplace.The trick is,for every title in the graph above, the top performers are those with the highest EQ scores.Even though CEOs have the lowest EQ scores in the workplace, the best-performing CEOs are those with the highest EQs. You might get promoted with a low EQ, but you wont outshine your high-EQ competition in your new role.The higher you go above middle management, the more companies focus on metrics to make hiring and vorrcken decisions. While these short-term, bottom-line indicators are important, its sho rtsighted to make someone a senior leader because of recent monetary achievements. Possibly worse than metrics, companies also promote leaders for their knowledge and tenure, rather than their skill in inspiring others to excel.Companies sell themselves short by selecting leaders who arent well-rounded enough to perform at the highest levels for the long term.Once leaders get promoted they enter an environment that tends to erode their emotional intelligence. They spend less time in meaningful interactions with their staff and lose sight of how their emotional states impact those around them. Its so easy to get out of touch that leaders EQ levels sink further. It truly is lonely at the top.Whether youre a leader now or may become one in the future, you dont have to succumb to this trend. Your emotional intelligence is completely under your control. Work on your EQ and it will boost your performance now. Your effort can also ensure that you dont experience declines as you climb the c orporate ladder. Even if your employer promotes you for the wrong reasons, youll still outperform your contemporaries.To help you get started, here are some of my favorite EQ-boosting strategies for leaders. They apply to anyone, so give them a try, even if youre not a leader (yet).Acknowledge Other Peoples FeelingsAssertive, action-oriented executives dont exactly ignore other peoples feelings. What they tend to do instead is to marginalize them or fix them so that they dont get in the way of action. While some have suggested that this is a predominantly male problem, it can more accurately be described as a power problem. People who fail to acknowledge other peoples feelings fail to realize that lingering emotions inhibit effective action. So the next time you notice someone on your team expressing a strong emotion, ask him or her about it. Then listen intently and play back what you have just heard in summary form. By validating their emotions, youll help them feel understood so that they can move forward without hindrance.Watch Your Emotions Like A HawkThe techniques above are extremely effective, but both require an awareness of your own emotions in the moment. You may think you have a world-class poker face, but if youre like the average executive, your weakest self-awareness skills are understanding how your emotions impact others and recognizing the role you have played in creating difficult circumstances. In other words, you would become a much more effective leader if you obtained a better understanding of what you feel, when you feel it. Practice this by taking notice of your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors just as a situation unfolds. The goal is to slow yourself down and take in all that is in front of you, so that you can understand how your emotions influence your behavior and alter your perception of reality.Dont Hold GrudgesThe negative emotions that come with holding onto a grudge are actually a stress response. Just thinking about the even t sends your body into fight-or-flight mode, a survival mechanism that forces you to stand up and fight or run for the hills when faced with a threat. When the threat is imminent, this reaction is essential to your survival, but when the threat is ancient history, holding onto that stress wreaks havoc on your body and can have devastating health consequences over time. In fact, researchers at Emory University have shown that holding onto stress contributes to high blood pressure and heart disease. Holding onto a grudge means youre holding onto stress, and emotionally intelligent people know to avoid this at all costs. Letting go of a grudge not only makes you feel better now but can also improve your health.SleepIve beaten this one to death over the years and cant say enough about the importance of sleep to increasing your emotional intelligence and improving your relationships. Your self-control, attention, and memory are all reduced when you dont get enough- or the right kind- of sleep. Sleep deprivation also raises stress hormone levels on its own, even without a stressfaktor present. The pressure that leaders are under often makes them feel as if they dont have time to sleep, but not taking the time to get a decent nights sleep is often the one thing keeping you from getting things under control.Quash Negative Self-TalkA big step in developing emotional intelligence involves stopping negative self-talk in its tracks. The more you ruminate on negative thoughts, the more power you give them. Most of our negative thoughts are just that- thoughts, not facts. When you find yourself believing the negative and pessimistic things your inner voice says, its time to stop and write them down. Literally stop what youre doing and write down what youre thinking. Once youve taken a moment to slow down the negative momentum of your thoughts, you will be more rational and clear-headed in evaluating their veracity.You can bet that your statements arent true any time you use words like never, worst, ever, etc. If your statements still look like facts once theyre on paper, take them to a friend or colleague you trust and see if he or she agrees with you. Then the truth will surely come out. When it feels like something always or never happens, this is just your brains natural threat tendency inflating the perceived frequency or severity of an event. Identifying and labeling your thoughts as thoughts by separating them from the facts will help you escape the cycle of negativity and move toward a positive new outlook.When You Care, Show ItThis might be the easiest thing you can do- as long as you actually do it. Good leaders always notice when people on their teams are doing good work, but they dont often show it. When you appreciate something that another person does, let him or her know about it. Even a quick email or pat on the back goes a long way in this regard. There are people who do great work around you every day. Dont put off letting them know h ow you feel about it. Your praise will build fierce loyalty and inspire your people to work even harder.Bringing It All TogetherIs your employer perpetuating this trend, or are they bucking it by developing high-EQ leadership? Do you know high-EQ leaders who outshine the rest? Share your experiences in the comments section below, and lets have a conversation about this important topic.Dr. Travis Bradberryis the award-winning co-author of the 1 bestselling book,Emotional Intelligence 2.0,and the cofounder ofTalentSmart, the worlds leading provider ofemotional intelligence testsandtraining, serving more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies. His bestselling books have been translated into 25 languages and are available in more than 150 countries. Dr. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by,Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, andThe Harvard Business Review.This article first appeared on LinkedIn.

Employees Sharing Rooms When Traveling

Employees Sharing Rooms When TravelingEmployees Sharing Rooms When TravelingIt is elend illegal to ask employees to share rooms on business trips. Employers ask employees to share rooms for a variety of reasons, but should they? Cons come from employees who seem to universally dislike the practice. The pros come from executives and owners who are often not subjected to the same rules. Reasons to Require Room-Sharing Employers defend the practice of employees sharing rooms for these reasons The employer wants to cut the cost of travel and entertainment. Economically, sharing rooms affects an employees ability to attend conferences, training, and business meetings because, without the shared rooms, only half of the eligible employees would be able to attend the fest.Some employers argue that sharing a room builds camaraderie and a sense of teamwork. They say that it helps employees get to know each other on a whole new level.The employer would not have obtained the work contract if the cost savings of employees sharing rooms had not been factored into the bid. Employers argue that employees would rather have the work than their privacy. Negatives About Shared Rooms On thecontrary view, employees should never be asked to share a room with a coworker, not under any circumstances including saving money during tough economic times. While it may not be a legal issue- although we can certainly conjure up harassment scenarios- it is a respect issue. Employees who travel for business to benefit their employer should be treated with the respect and regard that they deserve. This includes privacy, a place for downtime away from coworkers, and the opportunity to relax without having to worry about the opinions, feelings, habits, and stuff of a coworker. Possible violations of ADA by placing an employee with an accommodated medical condition in a situation where he or she does not have full privacy for the medications, medical equipment, or room accommodations they may require. By requiring employees to share rooms, you violate their privacy and may cause them to disclose medical information they dont want to share. Even if you require sharing rooms, an employee with a medical condition should be able to ask for a single room.The potential benefits of camaraderie and team building are overwhelmed by the lack of privacy and the stress engendered by sharing a space with a stranger with whom the employee is not intimate. Employees are vulnerable when they sleep, and even well-liked coworkers in the same room can interfere with sleep. And, in a shared setting, the employee gets no real downtime after working or traveling all day. If you respect your employees, your employees should not have to listen to a coworker snore, smell their stinky socks, work around their toiletries in the bathroom, share the soap in the shower, listen in on their phone calls, deal with their clothing and hygiene habits, or put up with their late-night work habits.Working effectively with coworkers requires a certain amount of respect and privacy. Asking employees, who maintain their self-determined professional distance from each other at work, to violate these rules of conduct on the road destabilizes patterns of interacting. Employees develop their comfort zones and behaviors that help them cope with the workplace over time. Employers cannot expect that the disruption of these distance and space needs will benefit employees. Seeing your coworker walk around a hotel room wearing a towel when youre used to seeing her across a conference table wearing a business suit creates discomfort. While some employees may be unphased, others will be deeply uncomfortable. Why risk it?An employee who is giving up hours of his or her free time, spending time away from family for a business purpose, should have a private room to retire to for breaks and in the evening. The employee should be able to call home without an audience, drink a few cocktails without a di sapproving observer, work until the wee hours of the morning, or call it an early night without worrying about the needs of a coworker. Employees who have just spent breakfast, lunch, and dinner together plus attended all-day meetings with fellow employees deserve a place for solitude and rejuvenation. Sharing a room is not a team-building event and it may result in damaged work relationships even if both of the employees are respectful and mindful of adult behavior.Business travel is stressful enough, and your employees are already voluntarily giving you hours of their time, without adding one more layer of potential stress and offensiveness. Give your employees the respect they deserve. Unless good friends ask to room together, employees should never be asked to share rooms. Alternative Ways to Cut Travel Expenses The problem remains. Business travel costs continue to escalate and employers need to control costs. Hopefully, youre convinced that making employees share rooms is not the answer. If youre a large corporation with a travel department, you have likely implemented these solutions and suggestions already.