Learning

Working Overseas Can Improve New Graduates’ Career Prospects

/ nancyrubin

Once you graduate, you’ll need to gather precious experience in order to get a good job. This gives you the opportunity to try doing different things and see for yourself which type of work you’ll enjoy doing the most. Another thing you can use this period for is travel. Visiting foreign countries and spending some time working there can be very beneficial for building your career in the future. And if you’re in search of more reasons for living and working overseas after graduation, here are some of the them.

Widening your horizons

While you were a student, you managed to get a broader view of life by reading books, watching films and documentaries, as well as through occasional trips. Once you decide to work overseas, it’s like becoming one of the characters from those stories and films, and this is one of the benefits of changing your surroundings. By getting first hand experience with a completely new place and culture, you’ll be able to see and learn things that you never could from books and TV. Coming into contact with new people, ones whose everyday lives differ greatly from yours will enrich you intellectually and spiritually, as will trying new food, listening to new music and simple making new friends. Embrace this as a huge plus for building any career in the future, since you’ll be more prepared for dealing with people from all over the world.

Learning a new language

Any new skill you acquire can help you progress in life and business, and this is especially true for learning languages. The difficulties of sitting in classes and having to do your homework in order to learn the basics of a language are replaced by throwing you straight into the fire and making you communicate with people, which is definitely the best way to actually be good at speaking a language. Adding another language to your CV might just get you in front of other candidates when you decide to apply for that job you really want.

Gaining experience

There is a huge difference between being taught about something at university and being able to do it in practice. Finding a job overseas can help you a lot in this area. For example, studying English language and literature can be amazing, but even if you’re a native speaker, once you actually have to start teaching groups of children or adults, you might feel nervous and unprepared. This is why you should be additionally trained in one of the incredible Monkey Tree TEFL courses. Institutions like this one offer you the opportunity to further develop your professional skills, learn from people with classroom experience and gain confidence necessary for actually stepping in front of a class. This is an effective way to advance in your career, no matter what part of the world you choose to work in afterwards.

Becoming better at adjusting

Any employer will be more than happy to hire somebody who is able to adjust to new people and circumstances quickly. Just like anything else, the ability to adjust is something you can upgrade by practicing. And what better way to achieve this than by moving and having to adapt to new living conditions in a strange place, where you don’t really know anybody. The way you handle new situations and how fast you do it can be a significant factor when building a career in any business, so make this one of your strengths by getting a job abroad.

Broadening your contact network

You met a lot of people while you were studying and you made some very useful and interesting contacts. However, by moving to another country you can widen your circle of acquaintances and potential business associates. Not only can the professional connections you make abroad vouch for you when you decide to try for a new job, but they can let you know when there’s an opening in the companies you’d like to work in as well. This can prove to be a huge advantage over other candidates applying for the same position as you. And since many of these people will, just like you, be from various countries, they can actually open doors for you all over the world, so that you aren’t limited to your country only. Finally, when you get to meet experts in your own field, there’s always a good chance for you to learn something new or discover some innovative ways of using the knowledge you already have, which can be a valuable asset.

If you’re ready for a change and trying out something younever have before, the period after your graduation is the perfect time forthat. So, pack your stuff, grab your passport and go for it!

Tracey Clayton is a working mom of three girls, passionate about traveling, marketing and everything tech related. Her motto is: “Live the life you love; love the life you live.”

5 ways to combat skilled labor shortage

/ nancyrubin

Let’s face it, today, more than ever, every business owner struggles with the issue of skilled labor shortage sooner or later. There are just not enough people interested or qualified enough for certain jobs, and that can take a real toll on any business. When you’re missing skilled labor, you’refacing a decrease in productivity and quality. Soon, that can have disastrous consequences for your firm. That’s why it’s important to address this issue on time, and ensure your business prospers. Thankfully, there are a few ways to do this that won’t backfire and are guaranteed to work.

1. Educate students

Pairing up with universities or schools is a great way of investing in your future. The interest for your firm should be developed early, meaning you should inform those who are still in school. This way, they’ll keep your firm in mind as soon as they finish school and are likely to apply for a job. You’ll have to worry less about not having enough staff because you’ve made sure the future experts know to look for you.

Many schools are looking for firms to partner up with, so as to ensure their students have a bright future. That’s your chance to reach out to one and devise a program which benefits you both. By doing so, you’ll also be seen as a company which cares about its community and the people in it, which is a very appealing trait to potential employees. Show that you are there for your community, and it will help you in your time of need.

2. Only keep the tasks you absolutely need

The process of creating a certain product or delivering a certain service is a delicate one. It’s a coherent system with many steps, all ensuring you’ve got a quality service or product as the end result. When you’re missing skilled workers though, you need to cut the process short a little.

Make a priority list and only do the steps that are absolutely necessary. Everything that’s done just for appearances should be left out. This way, you’ll be saving time, and more importantly, the energy of the workers you do have. It’ll promote efficiency and productivity. What’s more, it’s a great way of still providing good services until you get the extra help you need.

3. Put your employees first

Even though you are suffering from a skilled labor shortage and your employees have to work double to make up for that, remember that they’re people too. That means you shouldn’t overwork them and expect them to be able to cover all the positions. After all, you wouldn’t need more workers if your employees could do it all.

Instead of trying to make them pick up the slack and just filling slots, make sure they know you appreciate their efforts. If you’re not kind to them and don’t pay attention to their needs and well-being, it can lead to more people quitting and then you’ll be in an even bigger mess.Showing your workforce you appreciate them even in these troublesome times will help them stay motivated and pull-through. Together, you’ll be able to face this problem head on and come up with the best solution.

4. Opt for foreign workers

Importing your workforce can also be one of the options. Sometimes there just aren’t enough skilled workers in your country. In fact, more and more first world countries are choosing this option as a way to combat the shortage, Australia being one of them. Though, you need to be careful, because immigration laws are complex and often difficult to understand.

You can be sure the most informed immigration lawyer in Sydney will testify to that. That’s why it’s always advisable to talk to one before you decide to take any actual steps in bringing foreign people into the country. Every informed decision is a good decision.

5. Up your marketing strategy to a new level

Sometimes the problem with short staff is that people don’t even know you’re hiring, or what your firm is about. This is a question of a poor marketing strategy, but luckily, it can be easily solved. In this age of technology, you should make your company present on social media.

That way you’ll be up to date and will be able to connect with potential employees more easily. People will also know more about your company and are likely to be interested in working there. Even though it seems that social media is just for fun, it can actually be quite useful for things like this, too. In fact, there are a lot of professional social networks you can check out.

Conclusion

As you can see, not having enough skilled workforce doesn’t have to take a toll on your business. The important thing is to stay determined and motivated, and soon, your business will flourish. Hiring those who are good at their job promotes positive energy all around and, in turn, makes for very productive and confident workers. Never settle for less than your company deserves, so always hire the best of the best.

Daniel Brown is a law graduate and a passionate blogger from Sydney. His areas of interest are alternative dispute resolution and its applicability in different fields of law, IP law and resolution of disputes arising from intellectual property infringement and commerce law

Let’s Play Ball: Gamification For Businesses

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Gamification – have you heard the term? The odds are high that if you haven’t, then you will soon. Recently, this method of increasing customer participation has taken off within the industry. It’s the process of using video game-style features to boost the customer experience. For the most part, it tends to make marketing more fun and enjoyable. The same also goes for the products and services themselves.

People who have never heard the term before won’t have a clue regarding implementing it into their business plan. That’s why this post is here – to give you a helping hand. The following are the things to take into consideration.

Valued Learning

Duolingo is a language app which helps its users to learn words and phrases. The way it does this is simple: it starts off small and works higher and higher. Anyone who needs to get to the next level has to unlock the one they are on first. Otherwise, they plateau until they get it right. Adobe Photoshop has a similar strategy with its LevelUp campaign. The competition is the part which engages customers and makes them come back for more as humans hate being beaten. Plus, it helps users take a complicated goal and break it down into bite-size chunks.

Distractions

There are bound to be times when customers lose interest in, well, anything. Whether it’s a marketing ploy or a product itself, people will get bored. Distractions exist and it is your job to find the major ones and deal with them as soon as possible. The reason this is essential is that gamification can lend a hand and make it less monotonous. Then, the level of focus should bounce back and no one will disengage. Use analytics to figure out where people are running out of patience and then gamify the area. Alternatively, you can use your gut.

Tracking And Reporting

Putting a gamified version of the brand out into the world is only a baby step. Those who want to go to the next level need to track results and report on the data. Again, analytic software is available so there is no excuse. And, IT support is accessible across the world regardless of location. Anyone who wonders why this is important should remember two things. The first one is that you can analyze whether the feature is achieving the goals you set out in the beginning. Secondly, it allows the customers to improve, which is added value.

Offline Synchronization

Never forget about mixing virtual and real elements. For example, Foursquare is a program that rewards its users for checking-in to places and events. It also offers incentives for frequently using the app. Anyone who owns a “retro” high street store can use this to merge their strategies. Get your customers to check-in to Foursquare when they are in the store to receive their rewards. Once they start to link the two, they will shop with you more often.

So, the question is: are you game for gamification?

Job Recruitment Trends to Watch Out for in 2018

/ nancyrubin

The earlier part of the decade was tough for new graduates, but thankfully, recent years have seen prospects for job growth, and a plethora of new trends emerging – including multiple employment, diverse income streams, and career agility. Job growth also means tighter competition. To attract the attention of your target companies, it is important to strengthen your online presence and use social media to build vital networks. In this post, we present a few trends to watch out for.

Online Job Searches

LinkedIn has 500 million users, many of whom use the job section to recruit new talent. Make the most of this service, by signing up for jobs alerts and discovering connections that might serve as a bridge between you and a recruiting company.

Other companies use automated software to find candidates. In either case, make sure you use the right keywords and list your achievements in a clear and appealing way. Don’t simply upload your CV; develop a detailed plan for finding a job, which includes building networks and being active on them. Share content, provide links to your blog or website, and show companies your area of interest of specialization.

LinkedIn now has a paid service which allows you to send private messages to members you may not be connected with. Signing up for this service may be worth your while if you are trying to break into an industry or find employment in a specific group of companies.

Social Media and Other Checks

Once you are shortlisted for a job, be prepared for social media checks. How vocal were you during the last election, and what type of content do you regularly post? Be sensitive about the type of media (especially imagery) you upload and ensure there are no inconsistencies between what you communicate to a company, and what your social pages reveal – for instance, dates and qualifications listed on your CV and LinkedIn profile, should be identical.

Job Advertising on Social Media

Savvy companies often advertise openings on their social media pages. Make a list of target companies and check daily for any job posts advertised on their Twitter and other social pages. Job boards are likewise important, with Forbes reporting that search engines and job boards produce 94% of interviews and 86% of hires among companies who use external sources for recruitment. Top boards include Indeed,com and CareerBuilder.

As for internal origins for candidates, referrals still rule. This is precisely why being active on LinkedIn and other social networks is key; you never know if the person you spend time chatting with online, knows of a job opening or is impressed enough to recommend you in an organization they know or work for.

New CV Trends

Recruiters faced with a plethora of CVs have just a few seconds to look at each one. It is important to catch their attention by creating your personal brand and style, without going overboard in design features (since simplicity is key).

  • Make sure your CV is keyword rich, in order to be ‘caught’ by automated software.

  • Focus on only relevant experience; don’t list every single responsibility, but rather, list the results you obtained in each post you have held.

  • Market your CV at the particular employer by focusing on areas or abilities you think will capture their attention. Be brief and edit your CV various times to allow for conciseness and clarity.

  • Finally, use bullet points or (if you are applying for a creative job) infographics to make your CV easier on the eye.

It is an exciting time for job searchers and recruiters alike, with online apps, software and social media sites offering new ways to connect companies with top talent. Make sure to use LinkedIn and other sites to your advantage, learn how to use keywords in your CV, and most importantly, build vital networks. In the new millennium, the old adage is truer than ever: sometimes, who you know matters more than what you know.

Guest Author, Jenny Holt, is a former HR executive turned freelance writer, who now spends more time with her young family and ageing, but ever eager Labrador, Rover.

Getting a Leadership Buy-In For Your #LMS

/ nancyrubin

As an L&D professional, you probably know that Learning Management Systems can truly diversify your eLearning system.

If you already have employee profiles handy, focus points of the program ready, content topics worked out and even a prospective LMS, congratulations! You’re off to a great start. (If not, then don’t worry. You can find out how to do it step-by-step here)

You’re probably very enthusiastic about your brand new training initiative and can’t wait to implement it. So, what’s the next step?

Getting a leadership buy-in, of course.

However, convincing your decision makers on investing in a new learning technology is not a walk in the park. If you think that you have it covered with your list of ‘reasons why the initiative is important’ and ‘how it will boost productivity of all employees’, then Stop.

You may not have realized it, but you have been focusing solely on how to sellthe initiative.

Have you ever come across salespeople who are fast-talking and pushy. Salespeople who are so engrossed in the merits of their product that they completely forget to listen to what the customer wants and answer his/her questions. These customers may feel that the salesperson is trying to force them into giving in to the product.

You don’t want to be that salesperson and jeopordize your initiative do you?

Take a step back and put yourself in the shoes of the customer — or victim — of a hard sell. You would probably be left thinking:

“Instead of talking, listen to what I need first. Find out what my pain points are. Then we can start talking about how you could help me.”

Now that you know what you are doing wrong, let’s focus on how to do it right by focusing on these key steps:

  1. Listen

It’s not that difficult to figure out what your leaders want. Check your company’s website, your CEO’s tweets, press releases, company newsletters, and internal memos. Do your leaders want to cut down costs? Or perhaps transform the company culture? Maybe, they want to expand into new markets? Or maybe, they have multiple goals in mind.

If your LMS powered initiative directly addresses one or more of these goals, that’s great. Move on to step 2. If your training does not directly address a stated company goal, search for a connect that shows how your training can indirectly compliment a goal.

For example, if your CEO wants to cut down costs and your LMS is capable of improving customer service, do some research into how improved customer service results in reduced costs of handling customer complaints.

  1. Look for a Champion

Search for a senior leader outside of your department to champion the initiative. The mere presence of an influencer on your side would boost your credibility and chances of getting a funding. It would also bridge the gap between the senior management and your L&D department.

  1. Ask Questions

Once you’ve selected your potential champion, discuss your training initiative with her. Be on the lookout for any pain points that she mentions. Ask her about the obstacles she sees to implementing your initiative, any changes she could suggest etc.

  1. Build a Team

Reach out to HR professionals, IT professionals, procurement professionals etc to help evaluate and select the best LMS for your initiative. Having multiple votes on your side always helps in the long run.

  1. Identify Key Metrics

Even though the main focus of your strategy is to gain a buy-in for your initiative, it is vital to prepare for what happens once your initiative has been accepted and put into effect. Your leaders will want to see a clear return on their investment and it’s your job to figure out a way to measure it. To do this, define metrics for your success prior to implementing it. You can use metrics such as cost savings, increase in sales, reduction in training costs, improvement in customer satisfaction etc.

  1. Develop a Change Management Strategy

Introducing a new technology always requires some level of change management. For eg, in some organizations, the introduction of an LMS involves moving away from paper-based training to eLearning. With a decent change management strategy in place, your decision makers will be more willing to accept the introduction of a new learning technology into the organization.

Change management for an LMS implementation begins with pulling two teams together — your IT team and your LMS administrator team.

IT Team

Work with your LMS vendor to ensure that your IT team knows the in and outs of the new LMS. Including aspects like integration, troubleshooting, implementation, data transfer, user transfer, content transfer etc.

Admins

Your LMS administrators will most likely come from your HR /Training department. These guys would be on the front line of your training initiative. Arrange multiple demos of multiple LMSes with all admins to know which LMS suits them best. You need to make sure that they know how to operate the LMS perfectly as they would be the ones training content authors, trainers, HRs, managers and end users.

Delivering Your Case

Now that all of this is done, approach your executives with the help of your champion(s) and present your case for your LMS powered training initiative.

If you receive the green flag for your initiative, good job! Inculcate the habit of reporting to your champion and to the leadership team at timely intervals.

Even if your plan was not approved, keep your seniors informed about changes in the organization which may suggest that it’s time to give your LMS a shot again.

Guest Author, Mahati Vanka, is a Business Development Manager at LearnBee, which enables companies to train their workforce with the help of cloud-based learning solutions. Drop a line to me at mahati@learnbee.co if you are want to inculcate a culture of learning in your team.

The article was originally published on Nectar, where LearnBee’s top team contributes actively to Enterprise Learning.

Is ReactJS Effective For Use By Large Businesses, That Require Intricate Applications?

/ nancyrubin

Why would large businesses make a use of such a simple JavaScript library as ReactJS? Well, the answer, partially, hides in the question itself. Also recent statistics are strongly on the side of React. And statistics are a tough assertion to argue with.

But where its effectiveness comes from? What are React’s pros for large businesses, that require intricate applications? Let’s find it out in this article.

Since its initial release in 2013 popularity of ReactJS has been increasing slowly but surely. Today it offers fierce competition to rival Angular from Google, and has been adopted by some of the most powerful companies in the world, including:

  • AirBnB
  • Uber
  • WhatsApp
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Atlassian
  • KISSmetrics
  • Reddit
  • Salesforce
  • Twitter
  • Yahoo

Some might argue the very fact that such huge businesses have already utilised React JS, demonstrates it is up to the task of meeting the needs of huge corporations. However, some remain sceptic and perhaps for good reason.

But the question remains straightforward; has React JS evolved efficiently, enabling it to cater for the complex and varied demands of large global businesses? And what can be done with ReactJS? Whilst small to mid-sized companies require speed and efficiency, large corporations demand scalability, reliable support and cost effective client-side technologies.

Support and Development

For React to be ready to serve the needs of big businesses, it needs to offer reliable, evolving support, and it has managed to do precisely that. It boasts a wealth of community support that are always on hand to respond to ever changing problems.

Not only does React have a widely praised discussion forum, Stack Overflow, it also has over 550 contributors and offers dedicated Discord and IRC to stay in touch. Plus, because the main documentation remains open sourced and stored on Github, it can be constantly corrected and updated. This is a truly promising sign, suggesting React is developing into a modern, well supported library, that can remedy problems and stay up to date with the ever changing demands of large businesses.

Having said that, it is worth highlighting that community conventions are still developing, and some remain dubious that the React community is simply not large enough to offer a solution to everything. But overall, React shows promising signs of flexibility and forward thinking, making it precisely the type of application building technology big businesses want to utilise.

Quick and Easy Start Up

Another sign React is ready to meet the needs of the biggest and best, is that it can be swiftly adopted by new developers. Large businesses can lose serious cash if they have to have to spend thousands of hours training new developers, but most decent software developers will be able to get to grips with React in a short time frame.

Businesses can get employees up to speed using the variety of tools available, such as:

  • Online tutorials
  • Codecademy
  • Egghead
  • Codementor
  • Blog posts
  • Even following key contributors like Dan Abramov on Twitter can speed up the learning process.

Cutting the time it takes to bring new team members onboard, ensures maximum productivity, is cost effective and mitigates the risk of investing in new technologies. So, the fact React JS can be picked up promptly by large businesses suggests it certainly is ready to play in the big leagues.

Big Business Hurdles

Whilst it may all seem plain sailing so far, there remains some hurdles that React still needs to overcome if it wants to succeed with the biggest players. One understandable concern centres around data/state management.

React relies on a tree like structure. This means all data is managed at the upper level, which then passes down references to the lower levels. This means that when data changes, it has to call back up to the top levels to change any data. This won’t present too much of a problem in the small applications required of small to mid-sized businesses, but in the complex applications of large companies, you run the risk of writing numerous duplicate functions to manage even bite-sized amounts of data.

This presents a real obstacle to use by huge corporations. They don’t want to waste time, money and resources on an inefficient data management system. They need speed and efficiency from their data/state management systems.

Fortunately, you can make adjustments to retain control over substantial, complex applications. Redux is a state container, that acts like a database. It allows you to manage serious amounts of data on the client side, without getting too bogged down through the React components. So although justifiable concerns regarding data management systems may worry some large businesses, React offer a viable solution with the use of Redux to alleviate concerns.

The Final Verdict

Since Facebook launched React JS, it has helped build applications for some of the largest companies in the world. That alone demonstrates React is up to the task of facilitating the complex demands of BIG business. With a whole host of online resources and communities to rely on, large companies can adopt React quickly and efficiently.

Whilst there remains concerns as to whether the community is large enough to remedy all problems, and complex data management systems may hinder progress in large, dynamic applications, React is addressing those issues. Overall, it has illustrated it is certainly up to the job of meeting the demands of the biggest and boldest of global businesses.

Author – Alex Volski:

I’m a content writer at Thinkmobiles for 5 years. And I have a confession to make. I’m keen on web development and I’m going to become one very soon. That’s why I’m constantly bothering our web developers =). So if you’d like to chat about web React, Angular, JS or whatever – please contact me. Hope to hear from you soon.