Attire for interviewing on the sly

Attire for interviewing on the slyAttire for interviewing on the slyWhen interviewing and employed, use these tips on dressing down interview attire for the office.In a corporate culture where business casual is making waves, showing up to work in a three-piece suit is a dead giveaway to your colleagues that your dentist appointment is really an interview - somewhere else.Fortunately, there are ways to tone down your look for the office but avoid a changing overhaul in the cramped restroom before your interview. By pairing a few casual items with your more formal interview attire, it will be anybodys guess why you look just a little more polished today.Women1. Wear flat boots or ballet flats.Leave your gorgeous pumps in your car or under your desk in favor of lower heels. Bare legs and ballet flats or riding boots with tights will instantly dress down your interview appropriate skirt or dress. draufgabe Your feet will thank you.2. Trade your jacket for a soft cardigan.Layer a cozy c ardigan in a soft color over your interview blouse or dress. Cardigans evoke a sense of casualness not usually appropriate for a formal interview. Leave your jacket hanging in your car or at your desk. Bonus It will stay wrinkle-free.3. Add a fashionable scarf or trendy jewelry.A boldly colored necklace or Pucci printed scarf are a bit too fashion-forward for a formal interview. Add these fun accessories to your interview attire for a whimsical look just dont forget to tone them down before your interview. Bonus Compliments from your colleagues.Men1. Leave off your jacket and tie.In this case, it is all about what you dont wear. If a formal suit isnt in your office dress code, simply leave your jacket and tie off till the interview. Bonus Comfort Isnt that enough?2. Wear a sports coat or pullover sweater.If you prefer to wear a coat to the office, opt for a more casual sports coat or a cozy pullover. These layers will instantly dress down your suit pants and button down. Bonus Style points for mixing it up.3. Keep your shoes casual.Leave your shiny Allen Edmonds under your desk in favor of a casual loafer or driving shoe. A low-key shoe even when worn with suit pants clearly will deter your colleagues from suspecting that you are looking for work elsewhere. Bonus Your shoeshine will stay fresh.

Seven Internship Tactics to Grow your Talent Pipeline

Seven Internship Tactics to Grow your Talent PipelineSeven Internship Tactics to Grow your Talent PipelineSeven Internship Tactics to Grow your Talent Pipeline DeZubeThe race is on to attract and recruit todays interns. Companies no longer wait until senior year to head to campus and make job offers.These days, theyre using internships starting as early as freshman year to create a talent pipeline. Its a shift thats increased competition to recruit interns, especially STEM college graduates.Here are some of the internship tactics that businesses are employing to attract young talent. Recruiting Interns Early OnWhile some companies use interns to cover work assignments for vacationing employees, or as temporary staff to handle heavy workloads, 57% of companies say the primary purpose of internship programs is to develop talent for full-time employment, according to a surveyby Michigan State Universitys Collegiate Employment Research Institute.That may be why some companies now recruit interns using tactics traditionally reserved for full-time hires.At STEM-focused Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, California , one of Judy Fishers student interns was offered golden handcuff-style stock options. If she returned to the startup the following summer, or opted to stay on campus and do research instead, she would get to keep the options. However if she decided to work for a competitor, she would forfeit the options, Fisher says.Companies are also pushing intern retention by making year-ahead offers.As parte of the continuing demand for software engineering talent, organizations are hiring first- and second-year students while they are on summer internships to return the next summer, Fisher says. The reason is an organization is afraid of students returning to campus to find many other opportunities.What Interns WantIf stock options are not on the internship benefits menu at your organization, you can still compete for student talent by using these seven tactics1. Tell th em what theyll learn.Todays Millennial students see internships as resume builders, so a job posting that describes the skills the intern will acquire will appeal to them.Students want an environment where they will be able to take away a lot of knowledge, says Jason Parks, president of full-service digital marketing agency The Media Captain in Columbus, Ohio. He offers to come in early or on weekends to teach interns about the latest digital marketing trends.This type of individualized attention lets them know I want them to contribute to our team, but I also want them to learn a lot, he says.2. Create significant experiences.No one wants to fetch coffee and rolls any mora, but every job includes some mundane tasks. Find ways to cocktail the exciting with the routine. Coming up with a short-term, a midterm and a long-term project for each intern keeps interest going all summer.Students may not know what they want, but they know they want a significant experience, says Pushkala Rama n, Ph.D, associate professor of marketing at Texas Womans University, Denton, Texas.Small-business owners who lack human resources expertise can reach out to local community colleges or universities for help platzdeckchenting up an internship program and selecting tasks for interns, says Mary Ann Gaschnig, a job developer in the career advising department at Keene State College, Keene, New Hampshire.Theres usually a career center and those representatives are dedicated to helping make those connections between the education community and the business community, she says.The internship coordinator will know which skills students most want to acquire, whether thats database management, business development research or the all-importantsoft skills.3. Put interns on teams.College students are used to working in teams. They live in dorms and work on group projects in classes. If possible, slot interns onto teams where they work alongside more experienced employees.At The Media Captain, t he firms physically open workspace environment helps foster teamwork, Parks says. Our team is relatively small with four full-time employees. When a candidate steps into our office, they can sense the team unity and that if they were to end up working for our firm, they would be part of a close-knit team atmosphere, he says.4. Set up social events.Millennials are socially oriented, so pair up interns with mentors or partners. If you have them, connect them with your employees social or affinity groups. Not large enough to have affinity networks? Find an after-work activity everyone can enjoy, whether thats a kickball team or entering poker tournaments.The smart companies have structured internship programs where theyre meeting with the interns during social activities, Fisher says. Smaller companies can achieve the same results from a regular lunch date or night out with the intern.5. Use interns to recruit interns.One of the easiest ways to recruit more interns is to have existing interns recruit their friends and classmates. If youve hired an intern, ask them to come back next year and to bring a friend, Fisher says.Send new graduate hires back to their alma maters to work career fairs. Theyll remember the freshman and sophomores, she adds.6. Network to fill internships.The age-old strategy of telling everyone you know that youre looking for a job also works for those on the other side of the hiring desk.Tell everyone you know that youre hiring, Gaschnig says. Whether its talking with colleagues at a conference or the local rotary meeting, its good to share that information. You never know who knows someone who might be looking for an internship.7. Dont limit your majors.Accepting internship applications only from students pursuing a limited set of majors can unnecessarily limit the applicant pool. Instead of focusing on majors, focus on the skills required to do the job. An English major with wicked good Excel skills might be a better fit than a business ma jor who has never used the software in the business world.Competing for interns doesnt have to be an expensive or even time-consuming proposition. Every organization has something to offer college students. Figuring out what that is at your firm can help you devise an internship that delivers value to both the company and the intern and puts you a step ahead in the recruiting game.

How to Help Millennials Fill the Soft Skills Gap

How to Help Millennials Fill the Soft Skills GapHow to Help Millennials Fill the Soft Skills GapHow to Help Millennials Fill the Soft Skills Gap Rossheim Whether fresh out of school or equipped with work experience, Millennialsoffer an amazing array of hard skills in thousands of fields, from biomedical engineering to telemarketing.Yet many Gen Y employees, raised to believe that hard skills matter most, often fall short on soft skills, especially workplace communications and a social sense of business.How can employers boost the soft skills of the generation that will build the companys future or fail to? Here are some common-sense starting points.Start off right. Without going negative, managers can help new hires focus on improving their soft skills from the get-go, as part of their employee onboarding.All of ur entry-level people are assigned a career manager or mentor, says Patrick ORourke , director of talent acquisition and development at SWC Technology Partners in Oak Brook, Ill. They sit down together the first week of work. They talk about where the new hire might need help. They might talk about something as simple as email etiquette. And then they meet every two weeks.The soft skills gaps most likely to trip up Millennials include written and oral communications, social skills (other than social media), an ability to engage and motivate, business etiquette and professionalism.Communicate, and relate. Set expectations about communication skills that employees will need to acquire, starting with clear writing and articulate speech and moving up from there.A number of critical skills truly make people stand out, says Mike Fenlon, US and global talent leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers.The ability to express complex ideas with clarity and simplicity, to communicate one-on-one, within small groups and to larger groups, all in an engaging and accessible way these skills are not common.Mentor, mentor, mentor. Mentoring may be more important to Millennials than it was to any 20th century generation of white-collar workers. Pair new hires up with a good mentor, someone who has communications skills you want the Millennial to embody, says Randall.Mentoring can create a virtuous alignment in a multigenerational workforce. Mentoring will give young professionals the opportunity to talk candidly and learn from someone older and more experienced, in a relaxed and non-threatening way, says Tim Elmore, president of George-based Growing Leaders, which promotes mentoring.Consider the audience. Millennials who have grown up communicating among close peers and mostly through their smartphones might have to learn to embrace the perspectives of those who theyre talking to.Students need to focus on what the audience is, and the purpose of the presentation, says Matthew Randall, executive director of the Center for Professional Excellenceat York College of Pennsylvania. A lot of students just throw stuff out there and hope it sticks.Enough about me a nd you. Some Millennials naturally excel at working with a wide range of folks, even across cultures and time zones. Others need to learn how its done.Relationship-building is key, says Paul McDonald, a senior executive director of Robert Half International. Young people need to be aware that theyll be working with not just one or two people its everyone.Dont wait to evaluate. Both manager and Millennial new hires will benefit if feedback is given in the moment and in small doses, when the stakes are mostly low, but the learning opportunity is large.We give on-the-job, real-time feedback, says Fenlon. We dont wait for the end of a client engagement or for a year or even a month to go by.Interpersonal, but not too personal. Call it too much information call it oversharing by any name, its a tendency of some Millennials that can easily run out of bounds in the workplace.Oversharingrequiresself-monitoring, while keeping the sensibilities of others in mind. Theres a skill to not revea ling too much about yourself, says Randall. If you quickly reveal things about your personal life people can get uncomfortable.By the book. Millennials of a certain learning style can benefit by approaching new communications tasks with the aid of well-crafted templates. Think of this method as training wheels for social savvy.Lots of people tell me, Im great on paper, but when I get to the meeting, Im tongue-tied, says Laura Labovich, author of 100 Conversations for Career Success, which offers scripts for business situations, ranging from conversation starters to tweets for connecting with decision-makers.Bring in a trainer. To advance the soft skills of Millennials, consider bringing in an expert, particularly whenmultigenerational management skillsare required.Employers are asking me to train management to understand Millennial employees, and to train Millennials to understand the multi-generational business environment into which theyve just stepped, says Chuck Underwood, princ ipal at The Generational Imperativein Miamisburg, Ohio.