How self-improvement apps can shape your future self

How self-improvement apps can shape your future selfHow self-improvement apps can shape your future selfNirs Note This guest post is written by Jeni Fisher, a London-based Googler who consults departureups on applying behavioral insights to achieve business and user goals.Early on in my role as an Apps partner manager at Google Play, I welches drawn towards the Self-Improvement apps space because their persuasive influence transcends screen-level interactions. Their mission is to persuade people to take real-life actions that lead to long-term behavior change and ultimately shape how they live their lives. Read on to discover how unterstellung companies are harnessing behavioral insights to bridge peoples intention-action gap and work towards the future self they seek to be.1. Make the first session a successFor self-improvement apps, the first step to addressing peoples gap between intentions and actions is to ensure that the first session sufficiently activates people top the cruci al in-app behaviors.If were not sufficiently activated to experience the benefits of the app in the first session, well likely churn and uninstall. Retaining users over the long-term is tough, but one of the best ways to mitigate this is to optimize the first session so that new users understand and take the core in-app behaviors fast.The Mindfulness app revamped their onboarding from several screens to a new flow that elevated the core action of getting started with a meditation session. By implementing this Android material design quickstart model, week-2 retention increased from 19% to 33%. The takeaway? By increasing the likelihood of activating users on day one, your entire retention curve will shift up over time.2. Plan for the next sessionThe first session is your best opportunity to ensure retention-driving triggers are set up. Without these, that first session wont lead to a second and the likelihood of a behavior getting adopted is slim.Lets imagine someone installs a lang uage learning app because they really want to learn French. They are far mora likely to actually learn French if they willingly set a plan of how/where/when they will carry out the behaviors that help achieve this goal. There are dozens of studies citing that planning the how/where/when of a desired behavior, an implementation intention, makes it mora likely that people will take action.The Healthy habits app The Fabulous has taken on board this growing body of behavioral science research and implemented a Commitment Contract feature accordingly. People are asked to fill in a commitment contract where they indicate exactly when and where they will accomplish the desired action, for example taking a walking meeting to exercise more during the day. And in one specific study about implementation intention, people who filled in the contract were 20% more likely to follow-up on their plan.Another powerful technique is to encourage new users to set up a daily reminder so that they actuall y use the app a second time at a time/day of their choosing. Push notifications that have been directly set by people at times that work for them work better than generic marketing prompts because theyre aligned with our own self-selected intentions. Live class app Yogaia tested the implementation of a new Daily Reminder feature, and found that new sign-ups who activated the daily reminder feature were 48% more likely to attend a class within the 1st weekGoing beyond a specific time of day, theres a wealth of smartphone data that can equip developers with true user awareness by taking into account a wealth of other data points. Developers can tap into services such as Neuras AI software to transform smartphone data into insights about user activities in the physical world.Neuras AI predicts when someone is likely to wake up, and this is especially important for use cases such as fertility awareness apps. Their full potential is only tapped into when a user measures her temperature a s soon as she wakes up. By integrating the Neura SDK, fertility awareness app My Days was able to tailor prompts to when a user was most likely to have just woken up. These personalized smart reminders vastly outperformed the previous generic prompts, with a higher % of women taking their temperature as a result.3. Make the benefits tangibleSo your first session sets the user up for success. Youve ensured that future behavior is planned or contextual cues are set up to remind people to act. Thats still not enough to close the gap and ensure people take action There also needs to be a real sense of the benefits of engaging with the product over time. This is particularly challenging for self-improvement apps, as when it comes to investing in your future self, benefits are typically not experienced for months. To keep people on track, apps can foster commitment by ensuring users experience some form of a reward from day one.So, as soon as you complete one of your habits in the Fabulou s app, the app asks you to take some time to celebrate. This is inspired by behavioral research that says if people take time to tap themselves on the back, they will associate a good feeling with the habit and start looking forward to it.This challenge is greater for businesses who monetize via subscription, where the key benefits of using the app tend to be behind the paywall. Google Play recently partnered with The Behavioural Architects, a behavioral science insight consultancy, to identify how key behavioral economic concepts might better convey the paid benefits of a subscription app. You can read the Medium Post detailing the key findings of the study, or download the white paper.4. Maintain the behaviorSo how do you ensure motivation levels dont lag in those crucial first few weeks? A popular motivational design technique is awarding a run streak for consecutive days of usage, helping to boost motivation and making it more likely that intentions lead to a habit being formed. The extrinsic reward of building up a usage streak can be super powerful, but can backfire and demotivate if implemented incorrectly.Yogaia added a daily run streak on the service to boost the motivation at the point when they had not done a proper activity-based segmentation it worked well on the already very active users that could easily maintain the run streak. However, it punished their largest segment of class attendees, who would attend 1-3 time a week, with a run streak of zero. In the end, they opted to show the cumulative number of classes and hours attended so that the number could never go down).Perigees Seven Minute Workout app strikes a balance between offering in-app rewards for habitual usage and the sense of failure that an all or nothing streak tactic can manifest if you have a long streak built up.If you miss a day, you miss one of three of your earned hearts, but dont lose months of progredienz in one go. There will inevitably come a day when youre not able to c arry out the behavior, and losing one of the three hearts makes use of the motivational power of loss aversion but avoids the demotivation and likely abandonment that a complete loss might cause.. . .Encouraging people to start a new behavior is, in some ways, the easy part.At its most simple level, initiating a new behavior based on expectations about future outcomes. The harder part is encouraging them to maintain it. AJ Rothmans Theory of Behavior Maintenance suggests that continued maintenance of an adopted pattern of behavior is contingent on people being satisfied with the outcomes they have obtained. If they dont perceive outcomes, they will break the new habit.This theory inspired Smoke Frees implementation of their progress dashboard. The dashboard helps people see that they are making progress toward their smoke-free goal by providing feedback on time smoke-free, money saved, health improvements made and so on.Also, when A/B testing their Daily Missions feature, Smoke Free found that people were twice as likely to have quit smoking after three months. Why? Because it encourages people to reflect on the benefits theyve gained from quitting smoking.Investment is, of course, a key component of Nir Eyals Hooked Model and over time, users will have invested significant data and non-transferrable progress within your product. Self-improvement apps have a real opportunity to better visualize this investment so that people are less likely to abandon their new behavior (and the product).Language-learning app Busuu recently introduced a progress dashboard on their user profile. This highlights their progress against short and long-term goals, and quantifies prior investment in the app via the number of words learned. Its positively impacted their Day 7 retention rates already.5. The path isnt linearIt might seem like the path to long-term behavior change and habitual app usage is a simple series of chronological steps. But in reality, its more a series of stag es.To help people reach their goals, the nutrition and lifestyle app Lifesum wanted to know the answer to the following question what does it take for a person to change something? To do this, they conducted a huge research effort, interviewing people who had recently succeeded or failed in a behavior-change attempt. They surveyed their user base and evaluated models of behavior change, mapping both to their internal data.What did they learn?People move through a series of stages when modifying their behavior. These stages (Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance) lie at the heart of the Trans-theoretical Model of Behavior Change.These stages correlate with how different people interact with different features in the app. For example, people contemplating a lifestyle change might initially just browse meal plans. People in the preparation stage might be more likely to take the in-app Health Test, while users who are ready to take action actively track their meals.People arri ve at different points of their journey when they first install Lifesum, but the research also confirmed that that people moved through the stages in different ways. Importantly, lapsing to an earlier stage wasnt a sign of failure but an almost inevitable part of achieving long-term, behavior change.What did they do next?Prior to the research effort, onboarding emails werent tailored to a users readiness for change. However, by presenting each stage of change in the email and its related features, their onboarding email rates more than doubled. For users who were clearly in the action stage, these targeted emails increased open rates by a further 37% and doubled click-through rates.The framework also enabled Lifesum to better match the in-app interventions accordingly with the users individual journey and readiness for change. The research effort confirmed that we all need support throughout our changing journeys, regardless of who we are, and Lifesum is now doubling down its effort s to help people succeed with this key takeaway in mind.The habit trackers were prominently surfaced to users who were clearly on earlier stages of readiness for change, and this led to a 40% uplift in D7 and D14 retention rates. Engaging users on the preparation stage with the health tests increased weight loss success by 20% too. . .The positive impact that self-improvement apps are having on peoples habits and routines raises some exciting questions. What are the untapped opportunities for businesses to help persuade people to act in ways that they INTEND to act? How can you proactively take the concept of implementation intention, or a better understanding of your own readiness for change, to take control of your own personal goals?Please share your thoughts on the examples listed above, and dont miss my talk with the co-founder of The Fabulous, where we discuss related insights that can help business boost retentionNirs Note This guest post is written by Jeni Fisher, a London-b ased Googler who consults startups on applying behavioral insights to achieve business and user goals.This column first appeared on Nir Far.

How to Answer Interview Questions of Being out of Work

How to Answer Interview Questions of Being out of WorkHow to Answer Interview Questions of Being out of WorkJob seekers often worry about how the fact that they are unemployed will be perceived by prospective employers, particularly if they have been out of work for a long period of time. Employers will often ask why you have been out of work for so long, and its important to be prepared to answer. One thing to keep in mind is that employers are more understanding of employment gaps in a down economy. In addition to high unemployment, there has also been a trend towards more hiring of temporary workers leaving more workers with time in between jobs. However, you still need to be prepared to respond to questions about the length of time you have been unemployed. Whats the best way to answer questions about being out of work? Even though you may really need a job, its important to maintain a positive attitude and to provide a detailed and convincing explanation as to why the job you ar e interviewing for will be a good fit in terms of your skills and interests. Employers will be hesitant to hire you if they think you are randomly targeting jobs out of desperation because you have been unemployed for a long period of time. Fired or Laid-Off The most difficult case to make will be for those who have been fired for cause and have been unemployed for an extended period of time. Mentioning taking the time to reassess job options or retrain can be an effective approach if you are seeking work in a different field. In these cases, be prepared to reference a weakness that limited your productivity in your last job, while also discussing the strengths you have that will lead to success in a new job. For example, if you are transitioning from an outside sales stelle to a customer support job, you could mention that you struggled in the sales job because you were not very effective at cold calling, but also mention that you excelled in satisfying current customers. Discu ssing a layoff can be tricky, as well. A layoff due to company or industry financial problems can be addressed directly in your cover letter. In this case, it can be helpful to reference any personal success in the job and briefly mention that financial difficulties that caused your former employer to downsize. You could also mention how you are looking forward to taking on a new role and, even though the layoff was difficult, it gave you an opportunity to seek a more challenging position. The actual length of time you have been out of work after a layoff can sometimes be addressed by mentioning factors like the time it may have taken to reevaluate your job options. Voluntarily Unemployed Individuals who are voluntarily unemployed for an extended period of time will have the easiest task in countering any negative perceptions. Job seekers may have left the workforce to care for an ill parent, relocate, have a baby, travel, recover from an illness, or go back to school before cha nging careers. In these cases, mentioning your break from work up front may be the best approach. You could include language in your cover letter that mentions the reason for this period of unemployment and asserts your readiness to return to the workplace. You can then build upon that position during the interview. Brief explanations will usually be the most appropriate, for example, I left my last job to care for my mom who was undergoing treatment for cancer. She recently passed away, and I am eager to resume my career.

Adding Additive How TURBOCAM Successfully Incorporated 3D Printing Into

Adding Additive How TURBOCAM Successfully Incorporated 3D Printing Into Adding Additive How TURBOCAM Successfully Incorporated 3D Printing Into Adding Additive How TURBOCAM Successfully Incorporated 3D Printing Into its WorkflowIt took TURBOCAM Energy Solutions years of watching from the sidelines as aerospace giants like GE pioneered the use of 3D printing before going out on a limb itself.And then when the New England-based manufacturer of high-precision flowpath components for aerospace, oil and gas, and diesel engine applications went out on that limb in 2013, it did so without a safety netquoting its first additive manufacturing (AM) job before it even owned a 3D printer.You could see that the AM technology was being developed and getting closer and closer to achieving the requirements our customers have, says Jonathan Bicknell, TURBOCAMs general manager.That same year, the company went through a deeply detailed comparison of additive technologies with its own core technology, f ive-axis machining.The DMLS software slices the model into thin layers, which the machine then builds layer by layer, fusing metal powder into a solid partee by melting it locally using a focused laser beam.Traditionally, youd buy a big piece of material, you would ship it from source, you would hog the material out, or machine a lot of chips...and get your final shape, Bicknell says.In contrast to this subtractive form of manufacturing, direct-metal laser sintering (DMLS) is an additive process that uses lasers to heat and bond powdered metal, building up a part layer by layer.TURBOCAM compared the two processes for cost, accuracy and tolerances, material properties, process times, and current customer requirements.Video of DMLS softwareVideo TURBOCAMPlay videoQuickly moving into additiveThe company took its time, but once the decision was made to venture into additive, everything happened fast.We received the machine one week, we got set up and trained the next week, and we starte d the project the third week, Bicknell says.We had an order for a number of pieces and we actually started building parts, he continues.For that first piece, there was a lot of nonrecurrent engineering involved, just to build and see the response. So you figure the first piece took 10 times longer than the rest.Because they bided their time before launching into additive, and chose a manufacturer that had hundreds of DMLS printers under its belt, TURBOCAM avoided a lot of headaches.A lot of known lessons got passed on to us, Bicknell says. Now were going to take that learning and apply it to a whole different application.More intricate partsAfter successfully printing a few parts, the company was asked to produce something a little more challenging by the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory.I had some complex instrumentation needs where I needed to get a lot of pressure measurements on a small airfoil, and it wasnt going to be practical to do those in a conventional way, says Joshu a Cameron, head of the laboratory. There were too many and they were too small to fit into the vane.But with DMLS, TURBOCAM was able to build trenches, or tunnels, within the part that allowed the researchers to add dozens of pressure flux sensors at precise locations without disrupting the flow.In addition to integrated sensors, they were also able to create very small diameter tunnels through the middle of the part, normal to the flow, which allows static pressure to fill the cavity so measurements can be taken from outside the part.The reality is that if you were to take a conventional product, and decide that you would build it additively, the cost is actually too high for the majority of our parts. But if you work with your customer and design it with an additive mindset, you can start to reduce cycle time and overall cost, Bicknell says.Adding and subtractingOnce youve printed a part with DMLS, that doesnt mean its ready to ship right off the presses.It starts with additive, t o create the internal cavities, Cameron says. But then theres additional processes, like polishing the cavities, and finish five-axis machining on the airfoil surfaces.Typically folks will think, I have a 3D printer, now I can print anything I want, Bicknell says. We had our eyes open, and we knew that the tolerances are so tight, not to expect that on certain parts.With their five-axis expertise, TURBOCAM is able to inspect a 3D-printed part, readjust the computer aided design model, and then create programs to subtractively machine the final shape to its exact specifications.Adding diversity, satisfying customersAM has helped TURBOCAM diversify its offerings to customers like Notre Dame.Weve been able to provide components theyve never tested in their rig before, in a timely manner, and add special instrumented components, Bicknell says. They can get more information from that test for their customer, because we offered an additive approach.In addition to expanding the design poss ibilities, DMLS now allows TURBOCAM to work with high-temperature trademarked materials Inconel and Hastelloy, along with aluminum and more traditional alloys.Notre Dame has done three different DMLS parts with TURBOCAM and is now in discussions for the next project.It would have been impossible to build these cooled vanes with a conventional machining method, Notre Dames Cameron says.You would have had to have used some sort of investment-casting process, and that process is very time consuming, very long-lead, and very expensive. So I think the cost is completely reasonable for what youre getting, and I do think its coming down as TURBOCAM learns how to optimize the process.The new frontier of additive manufacturing can be intimidating to navigate fortunately, theres the ASME AM3D conference to help guide you as you integrate AM into your business. Learn more about the ASME Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Conference and Expo here. For Further Discussion

How to Answer Interview Questions About Working in Sales

How to Answer Interview Questions About Working in SalesHow to Answer Interview Questions About Working in SalesInterviews can be tough for all candidates, but for people in ausverkauf, they represent a particular challenge. After all, if you work in sale, its your job to sellyour most essential qualification is your ability to convince people to purchase products or ideas that may be new to them. So when youre interviewing for a role, interviewers will expect you to bring all those skills to the forefront and sell yourself. During interviews, you can expect several questions about why you work in sales, from why you like it to what motivates you and more. What the Interviewer Really Wants to Know For interviewers, your responses to these questions will be a test of your research abilities - preparation is essential for success in sales. The more specifics you share, the clearer it will be that youve done your homework and are familiar with the company and its product. Being spec ific demonstrates that youre interested in this particular sales position (as opposed to any sales role that will hire you). Your answer is also an opportunity to display yourverbal communication skills, as well as your persuasive abilities. (Here are other importantskills for people in sales.) How to Answer What Interests You Most About This Sales Position? If your prospective employers products or goals dont get you fired up and motivated to sell, then youre likely not a good fit for the job. But beyond the product, salespeople can be motivated by other factors, too. By asking this question, interviewers want to get a sense of makes you tick as a salesperson Does money make you get out of bed in the morning? Do you like the challenge of selling something youve never sold before? Are you all about competition with your colleagues and a drive to surpass their sales? Be honest about your answer. If its money and the company is driven to hit killer numbers month over month, this i s a good thing in their eyes. If its competition and they post a monthly tally of everyones sales to keep people on their toes, youll be driven to work hard. Examples of the Best Answers In your answer, you can mention your positive feelings about the product. Or, talk about specific aspects of the role or company that youre particularly well-suited for. This is a great opportunity to share any similar or relevant sales experience in the product category or to the companys demographic. See some sample answers that you can use to help you practice your own response. Im an avid amateur golfer, and I find your companys products to be superior and affordable for the average golfer. I believe selling something that I personally enjoy using so much makes me even more effective as a salesperson. ExpandWhy It Works This answer ties the candidates personal values and interests into the answer, giving the hiring manager a taste of his personality. It also demonstrates his knowledge of the ir product through first-hand experience. I have worked in this territory for many years and would welcome the opportunity to use my contacts and experience selling a superior product such as this. ExpandWhy It Works This answer demonstrates the candidates experience in the industry while also focusing on the role of the product. The opportunity to utilize my experience in international sales is what interests me most about this global position. ExpandWhy It Works This answer gives a very specific reason which demonstrates the candidates research and passion about the position. It possible sets her up for a follow-up question involving international sales. Your company has an outstanding track record in customer service which I greatly admire.I have broad experience selling to your customer base and I know how to feature the customer service component. For example, I developed a campaign last year that focused on the importance of customer service. ExpandWhy It Works This shows the candidates research and knowledge of the company while also demonstrating his own experience in the industry. I am continually motivated by the challenge of selling something new. Crafting a pitch and landing a new client is a satisfying process that never fails to excite me. ExpandWhy It Works This clearly shows the candidates passion. The candidate also uses specific duties from the description which shows his research, along with his passion. Tips for Giving the Best Answer Would You Buy It? Prior to interviewing for a sales job, always ask yourself if you would buy the product or service. In sales, just as in life, you cant sell something that you dont believe in. Also, never take a sales job if you dont have confidence in the marketing department (if applicable) or the current marketing structure and tools. A poorly written, poorly programmed website makes for a hard sell, especially if your competitors have new ones. Be Prepared for Rejection Understand that in sales, just like in job searching, there is going to be rejection. This point is especially aimed at the younger employment seeker who is thinkingabout acareer in sales. If you want to do sales, do it. Once you get past your first few rejections and your first few botched cold-calls, it becomes second nature. Dont let shyness or fear of rejection stop you from entering the field. Its an amazing way to begin your career. Focus on Consultative Sales Skills Remember that sales employers always want somebody who has what is most commonly referred to as a consultative selling approach. More or less, the term refers to a sales style that aims to uncover the clients needs as opposed to the infamous sales style portrayed in the filmGlengarry Glen Ross, which was most famously known for the mentality that, regardless of what the client wants or is best for them, close the deal. To express this unethical sales methodology in both an entertaining and theatrical manner, playwright David Mamet scripted the infamous A.B.C. or always be closing line. The Employer Is Your Partner Salary negotiationis the 1 most difficult aspect of the job searchfor many applicants in the sales and marketing arena. If you are not trained in negotiation, use what we refer to as the work with method. It means having the mentality that the employer is your partner, not your adversary, and together your job is to work towards a solution that will have you employed by the firm. If you think of negotiation in terms of winners and losers, youre going to end up the latter. What bedrngnis to Say Dont make it about you. Many questions about working in sales are open-ended, but that doesnt mean every answer is a good one. In your response, keep the focus on the company, position, or product. Do not focus on what the position will do for you. That means, dont say Im interested in this position because it offers a high salary. That may be one of your motivating factors for applying for the role, but its not very compelling for interviewers. Dont summarize your resume. Many candidates tend to launch into a recitation of their work history whenever an open-ended question presents itself. You should understand the question carefully and really try to answer the why here. Your employment history speaks more to the what and the how of your work, so you should demonstrate that through your why. Possible Follow-Up Questions What makes you a good salesperson? -Best AnswersWhat motivates you? -Best AnswersWhy are you the best person for the job? -Best Answers Key Takeaways Research the position Be as specific as possible in your answer.Be Honest This is a chance to demonstrate what motivates you and your passion will automatically reflect in your voice.Review the Sample Answers Theyll help you get to the perfect answer.Keep the Focus on the Company, Position, or Product Do not focus on what the position will do for you.

What You Dont Know About Resumegenius

What You Dont Know About Resumegenius What You Need to Know About Resumegenius There is no space for meaningless fluff or information not pertinent to the position for which youre applying. Its a professionally designed, easy to edit template constructed to make the resume writing process less difficult for you. Indeed, there are a number of elements to take into consideration in managing accounting resumes. Avoid developing a cluttered accounting resume. The Dos and Donts of Resumegenius A career change titelbild letter is employed in formal letters by people who aspire to modify career paths. A professional resume doesnt need to be complicated. Mention solely the relevant achievements that it is possible to use for the position to further convince the employer that youre indeed excellent for the job. Dont be scared to explain that a career change is an intelligent alternative for yur career development. In addition, the templates supplied by ResumeGenius are software-f riendly and help you to not become unrecognized by these kinds of tools. The resume builder tool features over 20 templates for you to select from. As a guiding tool, you can take a look at our Accounting Resume Templates, which offers a range of templates you can select from. No template was created to include photos or eye-catching colours. The New Angle On Resumegenius Just Released A cover letter builder is perfect for practically any job-seeker, whether you are trying to get part-time work or whether youve got an established reputation and youre browsing for a more permanent position. Whether youre asking for a managerial position or whether youre interested in working in the food business, there are lots of templates accessible to compare before completing your cover letter. Instead, utilize a fixed-width typeface (like Courier) so you have an actual 65-character line. Ultimately the decision is yours. The New Fuss About Resumegenius Also, it permits you to save you r CV to Dropbox that makes the entire process very convenient. At any moment during your drafting procedure, you can opt to switch designs while keeping all of your information. Many reliable services provide editing included in the price tag, or a totally free evaluation of your previous CV. Your resume or CV may be among the most important projects you ever design. Definitions of Resumegenius You are also able to get a hyperlink to your resume hosted on its website, and share exactly the same on social networking platforms. Your description ought to be short, precise, and simple to read. Meta descriptions permit you to influence the way your web pages are described and displayed in search success. A great description functions as a possible organic advertisement and encourages the viewer to click through to your website. The yperit Secret of Resumegenius For instance, you may include links to your previous experience websites for effortless access in case theyre curious. Show how you get your users insight and the way you could be in a position to understand their requirements. Include the tools youve got experience with. Cover letter creators supply a variety of layouts and templates to pick from that fit within any sort of industry, which range from business to food and science career paths. The 30-Second Trick for Resumegenius Again, use our cover letter templates and remember to prevent easy mistakes at the very start of your letter, as you dont want employers to quit reading or get rid of interest till they reach your principal points. To the resume, you may add a cover letter, which ought to occupy only 1 page. You may then save or print your cover letter online as soon as you have finished the practice. When the cover letter creator loads, its then feasible to pick from templates and commence inserting important details necessary to finish the letter. Resumegenius Explained As an accountant, you also have to focus on your accompli shment section. Make certain that you present your data in a logical fashion and ordnungsprinzipatic method. Simply knowing about the essential guidelines for a good resume isnt enough. ResumeLift provides a writing service that could assist you in making a personalised resume, tailored to a particular job or situation. My purpose is to find the job. In a sentence, briefly, summarize why you ought to be selected for the work position and the way you are able to add to the firm. To know whether you should continue your work or let go, below are some ways for you to identify. Some people utilize many resumes to submit an application for the exact same job at distinct businesses. Theres the chance to get to understand the remaining part of the team as people, as opposed to just coworkers, which not just helps morale, but also helps form friendships. The feeling of having the ability to earn a difference at work isnt restricted to small-business employees, but it is an importa nt driving factor for them, Aflacs report says. Various folks need various resumes, in reality, every individual needs different versions of his own resume to utilize for numerous purposes. The very best thing is they are applicant tracking system friendly which means there isnt any way its going to get rejected before it reaches recruiters. You feel your abilities and talents are intended for one more field. For product managers, interpersonal skills are the most crucial and also the toughest. You need to learn many abilities and technical understanding. Keep in mind, the majority of the special skills that you place on your resume ought to be job-related skills taken from the work description and your best transferable skills. Make certain its tailored to not merely the position, but the business also. In some instances, you might do work like that of a C-level executive at a larger company. Thus, when you compose a resume, be certain to highlight your skills, work exper ience, and achievements in the actual estate marketplace. Any time that youre working with the work application procedure, it is very important to consider several resources that are readily available to use today right from home.

The 5-Minute Rule for Resume Samples for Freshers

The 5-Minute Rule for Resume Samples for Freshers The Basics of Resume Samples for Freshers You may also leave off any jobs that are entirely unrelated to the job which you desire. 50 Best Samples for Career Objective You have begun preparing your Resume and the following thing youre seeking is Career Objective. Internship programs that are associated with the character of the job functions of the position that youre applying for allows the company to suppose that youre already conscious of the tasks which are going to be given to you should you qualify for employment. Job search for freshers is a significant undertaking and therefore, every part of it should be carried out carefully. Fresher resumes might also be attached to your internship program, especially if you would like to work in the company at which you will render your internship. They are commonly targeted resumes. They are commonly used by new graduates but its usage is not limited to the specified group. You may also read more on the ideal approach to use our resume samples here. Make certain you use a formal-looking font in your resume, and prevent using colors apart from black. Theres no superior approach to create an impressive image in the view of prospective employers. Including a pop of color, as an example, is an excellent approach to make your resume stand out. Resume Samples for Freshers Can Be Fun for Everyone A fresher resume is the candidate profile utilized by fresh graduates to list down all of the information regarding the extra value they can give to the company at the place where they want to apply. Keep yourself on the leading edge of whats being done in your industry and youll be in a prime place to contribute. Make certain its tailored to not merely the position, but the business also. More so, entry-level or rank-and-file positions are for the fruchtwein part given to new graduates so they are sometimes trained especially when it comes to work ethics, manag ement and skilled work operations. In developing a fresher resume, you should know of what format to use among the general resume types so that you may fully maximize the advantages your professional profile may bring to your application sample. Rather, it is a strategic tool for marketing your personal brand. Opportunely, engineering resumes have an extremely straightforward format. Like all the other professions, theres a specific format to compose a resume for civil engineering. Hearsay, Lies and Resume Samples for Freshers If experiences arent shown in a superb fashion, there are chances that your resume will be rejected immediately. When any customer chooses a specific agency, their primary goal is to have the data in the most accurate fashion and at a specific period. Your resume is regarded as the reflection of you and its unique for each person. A fresher resume can also be beneficial to employees who dont have a strong foundation in regards to professional work e xperiences or employment. HR is the inspiration for several of the employees. Resume Samples for Freshers - Overview The use of a fresher resume is quite common with fresh graduates as they still lack the work experience required to be set in an expert profile. Learning how to do a resume when dont have any work experience is much simpler if it is possible to demonstrate some seasonal or short-term work experience. What most fresh graduates dont know is that the absence of specialist experience isnt a problem at all especially if youre vying for an entry-level position. You probably dont have sufficient experience to compose a superior chronological resume. Why Almost Everything Youve Learned About Resume Samples for Freshers Is Wrong Have a look at our information technology resume samples for some tips about how to present yourself as the ideal candidate. While documents are usually generated in bulks from various varieties of machinery, they may possess lots of mistakes which arent visible if you dont read the entire document. You cant just give irrelevant data in the resume. All information provided ought to be regarded as fictional. Have a look at our samples to get a better idea about what makes a good customer service resume and discover out what it requires to land your dream job. Getting the most of a resource that wont only help save you time, but is demonstrated to elevate your opportunity of scoring a work simply is logical. In case you have any part-time work, that will go a ways towards a fantastic experience section. For an entry-level job at a financial institution, cash handling skills will be required. The Ultimate Resume Samples for Freshers Trick Thus, theres no need to attempt to build one resume profile or write a single profile title that fits every position you wish to submit an application for. Regardless of what field you desire to start you career, the very first impression starts with your CV. How to demonstrate the experiences in your resume is a significant question makes you most acceptable for practically any work profile. Having a look at how others wrote their resumes can offer you some excellent ideas.

What You Dont Know About Cum Laude Resume

What You Dont Know About Cum Laude Resume Our resume examples offer inspiration, but more importantly guidance on the best way to structure and compose the elements. The examples above demonstrate that it is possible to write cum laude on your resume in lots of ways. As soon as youve been in the workforce for a couple decades, your work experience gets more important than your GPA. After that, follow it with the prior ones. Putting an objective at the very top of your resume is becoming obsolete. With this moment, youve got enough work experience to highlight you dont will need to rely on your education. Listed below are best-known at TCU and throughout the country. Every day proved to be a lengthy day for Leo. You should tailor the education section of your resume to satisfy your circumstances, including whether you continue to be a student, how much work experience which you have, and the number of academic achievements youve got. While it varies based on your parteicula r experience, you will likely find a huge hireability boost. There are dozens and dozens of possible skills to look at using. In addition, if you become asked details about coursework from years past, you can fail your own resume test that is an immediate no-hire for many interviewers.Seerecruiters departure looking for how specific details on a resume. It should consist of a couple quick, strong statements at the start of your resume to summarize your abilities and experience. Soft skills are valuable in just about any position. Attempt not to exaggerate your responsibilities and prevent self-aggrandizing descriptions. If you are now in college or will soon be graduating, these tips will be able to help you determine whether to include your GPA on your resume, and show you where and how to correctly include it. Its a waste of space, and they are able to safely assume you finished HS or obtained a GED. Its unlikely youre have an honors section devoted to school achievements . You could add a distinct section if you received many awards in school. Its also advisable to skip your GPA in case you have those forms of honors included. If youve got an internship, make sure you list it. If you havent achieved any honors, set your GPA beside your major. If so, just incorporate the GPA beside your honors, in parenthesis. Individuals who graduated the prior December but did not take part in the December ceremony. The guidelines to accomplish the magna cum laude level of distinction vary from 1 institution to another. If youre a November or March graduate, you take part in the next Mays ceremony, following your degree was awarded. Its sometimes used while the summa honor is reserved just for students with perfect academic records. Get the Scoop on Cum Laude Resume Before Youre Too Late This 1 document can make or break your odds of obtaining a work interview. Whether you are searching for your very first job or attempting to earn a career change, the met hod starts with your resume. For more information, please look at our honor society page. Then take a look at work description. If youre asking for work at a law firm, ensure it remains formal. There are tons of hard skills for banking, and you want to list not just the ones which youve mastered, but each one of the keywords about the particular role youre applying for that guy or machine may be searching for. It appears obvious, but examine the words the firm uses in the work description usually thats what theyre searching for. I visit a school w quarter system and simply started a new quarter. It is easy to download a specific professional high high quality sales receipt template and produce thousands of excellent receipts for any type of sale. A receipt may be utilised in numerous ways, and the aim is determined by the title. You can create your own delivery receipt or only buy a prototyp delivery receipt book. Thus, the acknowledgement receipt would be an effortless lett er confirming the receipt of goods delivered. You dont need to invent a totally new layout. You just have to download the crucial template. A downloadable template is not difficult to use and easy to adjust, since the situation requires. A blank receipt template has features that might be quite ideal for a huge array of businesses.

How to save face when writing a delayed response

How to save face when writing a delayed responseHow to save face when writing a delayed responseIt happens to the best of us. We have an email eagerly awaiting our timely response that we promise ourselves well get toeventually. And yet, one day morphs into three weeks, and pretty soon it feels awkward to address the urgency within that message with a breezy Sorry for my late replyHeres how to save face when writing a late reply that will satisfy both recipient and senderYou dont always have to apologize when writing a late replyRecognize that not all delayed responses merit effusive apologies. At worst, it can come off as disingenuous to frage over yourself with so so sorry. If you were truly sorry for your delayed response, why are you answering my email two months later? the disgruntled recipient may think. An immediate response signals that we are paying attention through its timeliness.When you are writing a late reply, you can signal that you are still paying attention by focus ing on the request within the message. Instead of papering your delayed response with apologies, you can be upfront with how late you are and then move on. Moving on is key. The important thing is to not waste too many words excusing your lateness by explaining how you were away on vacation and you would have replied, but things got crazy, and then you lost Wi-Fi on the boat, and you- No. In these kinds of cases, its fine to say something like Hey there, here are some ideas Ive been working on to your proposalAs Daniel Potter writes for Grammerly, people know that we are busy, and that networking and mentoring requests do not necessarily need a speedy response. Charitably assume these people get it. Skip past sorry for the late reply and cut straight to what matters Sounds good, and thanks for reaching out- Hows Thursday?Of course, there are times when your months-long radio silence does require a my sincere apologies. If your inaction is directly affecting someones livelihood, such as you not paying them on time, or a job offer falling through, dont be a jerk Say sorry for being late. A genuine apology, when merited, is a courteous start to remedying a wrong.But our inboxes are flooded with requests daily. There were269 billion emails sent and received each day in 2017. There will be many emails that do not require a speedy response, or a response at all. Its important to realize that replying to an email days later is not a crime, so do not punish yourself for it, as author Melissa Febos argues in Catapult.Stop apologizing for taking a reasonable length of time to respond to an email, she writes. A week seems like a perfectly reasonable length of time to take. Or longer. Regardless, stop apologizing.What she is getting at is that our time is too valuable to waste on replying to every absatzwirtschaft and networking request right away. Learn to recognize that there are differences between important emails that you can take time to answer and urgent emails you must drop everything to answer. Once you learn this, your mind will be free to focus on your work and not your inbox.

How to Decide if Youre Ready to Quit - The Muse

How to Decide if Youre Ready to Quit - The MuseHow to Decide if Youre Ready to Quit Quitting. Its one of those ideas that enters your head and tends to linger. The worse your day, the more tempted you are to pull a Jerry Maguire and just do it. But, are you actually ready to pull the trigger? Or, I should ask you Are you making this decision for the right reasons? Every professional goes through the process of questioning whether to take a new step or to stay in the comfort of a familiar setting. Whether youre clashing with your boss, looking for a higher income, or just ready for something new, were here to help. Or, well, this flowchart is- use it as a jumping off point as you start to seriously consider your options. Infographic courtesy of BBC.com.Photo of quitting note courtesy of Shutterstock.

These two 25-year-olds may have just solved the plastic crisis

These two 25-year-olds may have just solved the plastic crisis These two 25-year-olds may have just solved the plastic crisis It’s comforting to think that once you drop your plastic container into that ubiquitous blue recycling bin, you’ve fulfilled your eco-friendly duty for the day. Unfortunately, the data says otherwise.Only 9% of plastics actually get recycled. The rest is going to landfills and incinerators where it’s being burned for energy, but most of it is emitted as Co2 into the atmosphere. At the current rate of recycling waste plastics, it’s projected that there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans by 2050.Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao, the founders of BioCellection Inc. have found a way to address the plastic crisis, head-on. The cofounders relayed their ideation of BioCellection Inc. at the 2019 Women in the World summit held earlier this month.“I think what’s so difficult for consumers to understand is that when we take a piece of plastic and put it in a recycling bin, that’s actually getting recycled. Well, guess what? It’s doesn’t … ” says Wang.The 25-year-old c o-founder of BioCellection Inc. graduated from University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology in 2016.  Her business partner Yao graduated that same year from the University of Toronto with a BS in Biochemistry and Environmental Sciences. Both received recognition from Forbes 30 under 30 in 2018. Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!Together, the young entrepreneurs have subverted the notion that recycling our plastic is sustainable. Poor waste management and lack of waste collection infrastructure mean a large portion of plastic waste is leaked into our rivers and oceans. Rather than trying to resolve the fallibility of the recycling process, Wang and Yao are going right to the source of the issue by inventing  recycling for the least recyclable plastic.How plastic worksTo understand the process, you need to know about Polyethylene. This plastic compound makes up over a third of all plastics produced globally. The reason it can’t breakdown in the environment is because of its size â€" it’s so large that microbes cannot access it to break it down organically.According to Wang, using our society’s “current Mechanical recycling method, all of the plastics are mechanically broken down, washed, and melted. That’s like taking a tree leaf, cutting it apart and then gluing it together. That’s why recycling is not working.”Instead, working from the concept of a “circular economy”, the chemists plan to take these molecules and fully recycle them to create new usable products, rather than releasing waste into the atmosphere.Yao breaks down this highly complex method into simpler terms:“What we do is use a chemical method to cut this [Polyethylene] chain into small pieces. These small pieces become functionalized with oxygen to develop interesting properties. These chemicals that we make out of plastic are actually precursors to h igher value materials. It’s this exact material that is found in things like car parts, electronics, and textiles.”Using this model, the vast majority of waste ( 91% ) that are deemed too contaminated to recycle actually becomes an untapped resource with unprecedented application potential. Rather than trying to fix a broken system, Wang and Yao are inventing their own.What you can do nowEven if you aren’t a precocious chemist, there are still many ways you can help combat the plastic crisis. The simplest way to do so is to cut back on plastic waste altogether. Today, technology makes this easier than ever. One app, from a startup called Omni Calculator, helps you keep track of your plastic waste by tallying up how many plastic bottles you use, and then telling you roughly how many pounds of plastic you use in a year or that you’ll use in your lifetime.Another app, called My Little Plastic Footprint, goes further, helping users track their progress toward zero waste over tim e. According to Wang, it’s important to remain radically optimistic about combating the plastic crisis, on an international level.    â€œWe are convinced that we can solve the plastic pollution problem within our lifetime, it’s just a matter of working with the right people to make it happen,” says Wang.You might also enjoy… New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs 10 habits of mentally strong people

The State of Working Dads

The State of Working Dads The State of Working Dads While 85% of fathers wish they could be more involved in the lives of their newborns during the early months, less than 50% of fathers take as much time as their country’s policy allows. This is often caused by social norms, financial pressures, and lack of support from their organizations. While we hear a lot about women in the workplace , the rights, and struggles of working fathers are far less discussed and advocated for. To celebrate this Father’s Day, I interviewed working fathers across North America to talk more about what being a working father in 2019 has been like for them. Here’s what they had to say! When it comes to work life balance, almost all working fathers emphasize the importance of time management. Parenthood has required them to make a mental shift towards being present with their families when they are not at work. Marcus Yco , Head of North America, Waze Local says “My perspective on work-life balance has become clearer as a working parent. Needing to reprioritize and be thoughtful about this balance has helped me to become a better leader.” Micheal Goldstein , Chief Revenue Officer at Tucows, says “Before kids, I was less disciplined and would procrastinate. Parenthood is a lesson in time management that everyone can benefit from. If you say you’re going to stop working at 6:00 pm, you’ll find a way to do it if you work with intention. I’ve had to learn to be unapologetic about my schedule and boundaries. My goal is to only do one job at the time so I can give my kids my full attention. ” Dan Capoferri , Senior Manager at Tucows recalls that “years ago, when I saw the parents at work leaving earlier to pick their children up from daycare, I thought it was unfair. After having kids of my own, I completely understand and empathize with them. Now, I strive to produce as much as I can within my allocated working hours, but disconnect from work completely when I’m home. I can still progress my career during my normal working hours without having to work constantly on evenings or weekends”. Yco says that “Many things will change when you become a new father! Before I had children, I routinely worked evenings and weekends. Even after our first was born, I would leave for work before she woke up and come home well after she had gone to sleep. I realized I was missing out on my daughter’s life entirely and needed to reprioritize around my new family. Now I own mornings with my kids. I make sure that I come home before they go to bed so that I can say goodnight and spend a few hours with my wife.” Capoferri says that having kids has also helped him realize his potential for getting things done within working hours. He says “I know that when I go home my phone is locked away in my bedroom and I’m spending time with my family. I need to accomplish all of my work before leaving the office. This has led me to become more productive, and has been an excellent upgrade. While these fathers seemed to have found a healthy balance, 63% of fathers feel they spend too little time with their children, compared to 35% of mothers who felt the same. Women often feel guilt around falling short in the many roles they take on. This is no unique feeling, as men express similar concerns. Goldstein says that he too has experienced times when he felt like he was doing everything inadequately. He says “Comparing yourself as a parental unit to other parents is hard, especially when you’re both working and other parents are not. You feel like others are doing it better and are way ahead. As parents, there is implicit judgment from all ends.” There is still social stigma for men wanting to take a more active role in parenting their children. “When men take a more active role in their kid’s life, they are made to be seen as less ambitious or irresponsible as professionals. The ideas of what the gender roles should look like can shake people when you don’t fit as prescribed” says Goldstein. Saad Bellafquih , founder and manager of a management consulting firm says that while he sees improvements in societal expectations and standards, he doesn’t feel like there is full equality yet, especially with “the perception of a man taking time off to take care of their family.” Alan Zel , president and CEO of Zel Human Capital says “We have redefined what it means to have it all. Men can suffer from feeling like they have missed out on raising their children because they had to work.” Saad explains that whether you are the mother, or the father, you have the same 24 hours in a day, and whatever area you put focus on will force you to sacrifice elsewhere. He says “what’s important is to acknowledge that the path we choose is our own.” In regards to taking time off for paternity leave, Capoferri says “I felt as though people were looking at me “sideways”, wondering why I deserved to take time off…even going as far as to comment “…if working dads can take time off for paternity leave, what about those who choose not to have children? ” People would make me feel that this time away with my family was undeserved.” While today’s fathers aspire to be more involved with their families than ever before, men who interrupt their employment for family reasons earn significantly less after returning to work. While today’s fathers spend three times as much time with their children and twice as much time on housework than previous generations, the stigma still exists. When it came to supporting their spouses, Zel says to “listen, observe, and don’t make assumptions about what your partner needs. Ask questions and try to really understand and hear what their experience is like!” Yco says “I am incredibly lucky to have a partner that I can talk through my career with. My wife is an equal in decision-making when it comes to my career and how it may impact our family. Tactically, taking on more at home in spurts allows us each enough coverage when career responsibilities spill into the home/family routine” Goldstein says “Constant communication, and taking as much pride and being invested in their career as you are your own is important. When you can help your spouse’s career, that should feel like a win in your career, because you’re a team.” Capoferri says “Give them breaks when they need them. Giving your spouse time to themselves to unwind and focus on something other than children is one of the greatest gifts you can provide.” What they all agreed on, was that parenting is a team effort, in which both parents must share the responsibilities. With father’s day upon us, make sure you give thanks to your working fathers for all their support and sacrifices! [In part two of this article, we’ll discuss what it was like for fathers to take their paternity leaves, and what organizations can do to help make things easier for working parents.] Stacy Pollack is a professional development specialist who helps teams and leaders grow and build new skills. She is passionate about creating opportunities for people to advance in their career while improving the development of organizations. She loves sharing insights on human resources, career building, and networking for success. Stacy also holds an MA in Educational Technology. Connect with her on LinkedIn , Twitter , or at www.stacypollack.com. Are you an employer? Check out our Talent Solutions Blog . Thanks for finding us! We cover everything from career advice to the latest company headlines. We're always looking for experts, executives and trends to feature on the Glassdoor blog. Interested? Contact us. And if you’re looking for the latest in employer solutions and advice, we recommend our Talent Solutions Blog . It only takes a second â€" see who’s viewing your profile and monitor your reputation.

Managing Partner - Law Firm Sample Job Description

Managing Partner - Law Firm Sample Job Description Managing Partner - Law Firm Sample Job Description Managing Partner Law Firm Sample Job Description This managing partner law firm sample job description can assist in your creating a job application that will attract job candidates who are qualified for the job. Feel free to revise this job description to meet your specific job Job Duties and job requirements. Managing Partner Law Firm Job Responsibilities: A managing partner makes the law firm successful by focusing its people and their efforts on serving clients. Managing Partner Law Firm Job Duties: Accomplishes law firm human resource strategies by determining law firm structure; establishing, communicating, and enforcing values, policies, and procedures; implementing recruitment, selection, orientation, training, coaching, counseling, disciplinary, and communication programs; planning, monitoring, appraising, and reviewing job contributions; establishing compensation strategies. Establishes law firm organizational strategies by contributing opinions and substantiation to the firms strategic thinking and direction; creating functional strategic thinking and direction; establishing functional objectives in line with organizational objectives. Establishes law firm operational strategies by evaluating trends; defining critical measurements; establishing production, productivity, quality, and client-service strategies; evaluating service results; defining systems objectives; accumulating resources; establishing change strategies. Establishes law firm financial strategies by forecasting and anticipating requirements and trends; distributing monetary resources; evaluating results. Creates understanding and positive image of the law firm by building relationships; maintaining credibility; providing information to the legal community, media, government, and the public; building legal staff and employee commitment to the firm and the community; providing the firms fair share of pro bono representations; following other American Bar Association suggestions and guidelines. Generates revenues by attracting and pleasing clients; obtaining new referrals from existing and past clients. Increases revenues by exploring new and additional services; developing and presenting cost-benefit analyses of new and additional services to Senior Partners. Maintains law firm stability by establishing and communicating a law firm value system; enforcing ethical legal practices; inspiring service excellence. Prevents disruptive conflicts by observing and resolving disagreements among specialty groups and between service areas; remaining objective; identifying root causes of internal problems; implementing pragmatic solutions; promoting harmonious work relationships. Updates job knowledge by creating state-of-the-art practices within the firm; providing leadership in educational and professional organizations; being sought as a subject-matter expert; contributing to professional publications; maintaining personal networks. Enhances law firm reputation by doing anything and everything legally, ethically, and morally appropriate to assist the firm in helping clients and potential clients. Skills/Qualifications: Legal Compliance, Financial Planning and Strategy, Decision Making, Customer Focus, Building Relationships, Managing Profitability, Planning, Process Improvement, Verbal Communication, Informing Others, Written Communication Managing Partner Law Firm Skills and Qualifications: Legal Compliance, Financial Planning and Strategy, Decision Making, Customer Focus, Building Relationships, Managing Profitability, Planning, Process Improvement, Verbal Communication, Informing Others, Written Communication Employers: Post a job in minutes to reach candidates everywhere. Job Seekers: Search Managing Partner Law Firm Jobs and apply on now. Learn more aboutthe hiring process: Video: How to Conduct an Interview Make the most of Hiring Tools Maximize your Job Description Results

Ways to Develop Your Organization with Succession Planning

Ways to Develop Your Organization with Succession Planning Ways to Develop Your Organization with Succession Planning Ways to Develop Your Organization with Succession Planning May 12, 2011 Your organization must grow and change in order to survive; the leadership you have today will not be the leadership of the future. What steps have you taken to promote the continued evolution and growth of your organization? How will your organization support the development of organizational succession planning and retention of key employees? Learn ways to design and optimize your leadership teams. This webinar will guide you through the process of how to prepare your organization for succession planning through the following steps: Designing a base line organizational mission, vision and values statements. Assessing key executive potential, talent gaps and retention strategy. Key strategies to assess future changes in position responsibilities, new market expansions and skill sets. would like to thank Todd Hohauser for presenting this webinar. Presented by: Todd Hohauser President of Harvey Hohauser Associates Todd Hohauser is the president of Hohauser and Associates an affiliate of the 8th largest retained executive search groups in the world, IIC Partners. He also serves on the Board of Directors for IIC Global Partners and has spent seven years of service in the behavioral sciences field. An acknowledged expert in the assessment, identification and placement of leaders, Todd works mostly with family businesses and is a specialist in the coordination and recruitment of exceptional executive talent in the following areas: operations, information technology, engineering, financial management, retail, healthcare and manufacturing. He received a B.S. from Western Michigan University and a M.S.M. from Walsh College where he was the recipient of the Outstanding Alum of the Decade. He is also the Board Chairman; Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan (epilepsymichigan.org/). Webinar Transcript: Ways to Develop Your Organization with Succession Planning Good afternoon, everyone. Im Randi Alterman. Im Marketing Director here with Monster, and Id like to thank you for joining us today for this exclusive webinar sponsored by Intelligence. Today were going to discuss ways to develop your organization with succession planning. In this Intelligence webinar, were joined by Todd Hohauser, President of Harvey Hohauser Associates. This webinar will guard you through the process of how to prepare your organization for succession planning. Before we get started, I do have just a few housekeeping items. This webinar is being recorded, and a copy of todays recording will be posted on hiring.monster.com within two to three days. Just click on the Resources tab, and go to HR Events. All participants will receive an email with the direct link to todays materials. Intelligence provides insight to help HR professionals improve their recruiting success, accelerate worker performance, and retain top talent. We analyze and collect data from over four million unique job searches that are performed each and every day on Monster. We invite you to visit hiring.monster.com, and read some of our other in-depth reports and analysis, all located under the Resources tab. There will be time after the presentation for some questions and our meeting manager will help facilitate the QA. Please feel free, at any time during the webinar to type your question in the available space during the event, and well try to include it in the QA session. Additionally, if youre getting your audio through the phone, you are placed on mute until the QA session begins. Id like to now introduce our speaker. Todd Hohauser is President of Hohauser and Associates, an affiliate of the eighth-largest-retained executive search groups in the world IIC partners. He also serves on the board of directors for IIC global partners and has spent seven years of service in the behavioral sciences field. An acknowledged expert in the assessment, identification, and placement of leaders. Todd runs most of his family businesses, and is a specialist in the coordination and recruitment of exceptional executive talent in the far wing areas: operation, information technology, engineering, financial management, retail, health care, and manufacturing. Hes received a BS from National Michigan University, and MSM from Walsh College where he was the recipient of The outstanding [?] of the decade. Hes also the board chairman of Epileptic Foundation of Michigan. Im now going to turn the webinar over to you. Okay, great. Thank you very much Randy and welcome to everyone. Im calling you from beautiful, Troy in Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit. And we actually got our snow melted here in May, which is nice. Im talking to you today about developing your organization with succession planning, and what happens a lot in organizations. We are a retained executive search firm that have been around for 25 years. We have a bit of a family business ourselves, in that my father started the business 25 years ago. I joined 12 years ago. Subsequently, a lot of the search work we do are for medium and large size family businesses that need strategic leaders. This can be CEOs, CFOs, VPs, etc. A lot of these issues that have to do with family businesses are succession planning issues, there are gap issues, etc. And theres a lot of pieces that fall into this puzzle because these family businesses are getting larger and larger. Were seeing them growing not only here at our local market, but internationally. A lot of times we find family businesses a little different than the publicly traded businesses that may be looking at things quarter-to-quarter. Family businesses tend to look at things more along th e lines of generation-to-generation. So, this leads to more longitudinal planning and the thought, If they look at their management teams whats going to come next? And how the organization is going to continue. When you look at the term succession planning, you have to be very careful because you will come across a lot of different facets. If you are somebody who is in the accounting and finance world, youre really going to be worrying about tax issues and the transition of financial matters within the family and ownership, etc. If you tuned in for that, Im sorry. Thats not what we were talking about today. If you come from the legal background, youre going to be very concerned about different state laws that may be attributable to succession planning. And if thats what you tuned in for today, Im afraid thats not it either. What we were going to talk today about is succession planning and planning the organization as you grow and continue to develop in this ever changing world. With that, Im going to dive right in here. Our process is a very holistic process in nature. Whenever we address an organization, were really addressing the organization through three phases. The first phase is understanding the culture. The second phase is understanding the candidates. And the third phase is making the match. The process itself leads to success. You really have to pay attention to the process, and I try to unplug some of those things from our process in order to help you folks that are listening. So here we generally start, if I can move along here in the presentation, is this holistic approach. There are other ways to approach succession planning, as far as people are concerned, and no one way is the right way. Different organizations are driven in different matters. One person that can be successful in one business, may or may not be successful with another. This is the first bullet point that has to do with holistic, versus bureaucratic, versus egalitarian. Takin g the in-depth hard look at the type of organization environment you have, you have to have an understanding of that, before you can even really dive into this topic. Its really hard to figure out your future if you dont understand your current reality. So, sometimes you have to take a very hard look at the pros and cons of your organization in order to figure out who is going to fit in as you continue to grow and change. As I said, every organization is different and unique. And as such, you look at our second bullet point that has to do with mission-vision values. There are lots of mission-vision values I think thats out there. I think the irony is, if you talk to many people who work for different companies and ask them, What are your corporate mission-vision values? you really would be in the minority if you could quote them. So, we always advise our clients that when you are designing these things, they are statements that really do match how the organization feels. And theres a lot of different ways to develop these statements. Theres tons upon tons written about these things. With our own organization, if you visit hohauser.com, youll see our mission-vision and values, which we had an outside facilitator come in because sometimes you just cant see the forest from the trees, and you need somebody else to lead you through the process. One of the searches that we recently completed is for a family-owned business here in Saginaw, Michigan. This is a $200 million third-generation business that makes roofing materials that are distributed throughout the United States. We were helping them to find a CEO, and theyve never really had an external CEO before. So, the previous CEO was the founder of the business, and as you can imagine theres a lot of feelings and emotions tied up with the departure of that individual. Unfortunately, he passed on in the late 90s. So, we really looked at what they wanted to find in a CEO, and had an alignment with values. Im just going to read off some things to you that this company put together. These are eight different areas that were important for them for their incoming CEO. In their successful candidates, they were looking for number one, unquestioned integrity. Number two, driving results. Number three, communication. And number four, judgement. Number five, business acumen. Number s ix, industry knowledge. Number seven, developing and leveraging relationships. Number eight, thrive on challenge. Of course, these points are specifically applicable to this organization, and every organization will have a very different viewpoint on this. One of the things I found very interesting was throughout the search, they were very interested in finding somebody with a Midwestern work ethic. What does that mean? We actually spent a great deal of time trying to figure out what that meant. Whether there are positive or negative things attributed to that particular statement, the fact of the matter is, its what they used to define their culture, and it was very important to them. In order for them to find the right candidate, they needed to make sure that any folks that were going to help them continue to grow the business had those particular items in their personality traits. There are a lot of different components also when you look into your mission-vision values here on this slide that have to do with the differences in generations. Weve all gotten to the point where were almost sick of the ad nauseam that we hear about Gen X, and the great generation, the boomers, and the Ys. But this is obviously paramount to understand as you move forward in the organization as far as developing a succession plan and were going to get further into that in just a minute with a little poll. But I think that you have to understand what the make up of the organization is. Is it predominately folks from one particular generation or age? Is it necessary for the organization to add folks of a certain generation in order to help the organization continue in its success and development? So we created a poll which is here on the next slide and if you would take a moment to think about your organization and answer this question, What does your workforce look like? I know these are very rough numbers but if you think about the boom, the great, and the X, and the Y generation, some of us may have varying view points on what particular this means. Im going to answer this for my organization as well, because I have the little poll up here. But any who, I think most of us understand these differences in ages. So I think we just have a few moments on this until the results come in. Ive just started accessing some information here while we are waiting. Most people define the baby boom generation as folks who were born from 46 to 64. Generation X is folks born in 65 to 76. Gen Y is 77 and 97 and some people are using this new term Gen I which is 98 to present. Hi, this is Randy. Hi Randy. I was just going to say that the poll has closed and we did get a lot of respondents. Most people are so the 50 percent boomers and 50 percent Xs and Ys and two or three responses came from our top the 80 percent boomers, 10 percent great generation and 10 percent Xs. Okay. Great. So everybody has perfectly balanced organizations. Congratulations. Thats fantastic. This obviously is something that you want to look at in organizational planning, because when youre talking about succession planning, you do want to be concerned about retirement issues and, etc. So, if most of the people are responding D, 50/50 then it looks like people are planning well and that is a good thing, because otherwise, they would have to caution people about that. All right. As far as assessing leaders, you want to do this with your internal management team, the folks that are in place now. Were trying to uncover gaps. For instance, we had a client here that probably had 60 to 70 percent of the owners manuals business in the United States. They print and deliver owners manuals. This particular organization does quite fantastically with delivering, but as the owner, who was the third-generation leader and CEO of the business, began to meet with some of his direct reports and the sales function quickly realized that there was a gap. If you look at this bullet point, How often do your managers meet with a direct report and the frequency? Because this frequency was occurring, he was able to uncover this gap and fulfill this need. Sometimes, succession planning is a retirement age issue. Sometimes succession planning is a skill gap issue, and with this point, it was a skill gap issue. If nothing else, have monthly check-ins with the direct reports, to make sure that managers are staying on top of whats going on in their lives. These sort of meetings help to determine where different gaps are. You have to do this in order to determine knowledge skills and abilities, development plans, and educational development plans. Many people are very interested in going back to school and adding skills and I say, Thats a fantastic idea. One of my favorite management tools is this book that most of you might have read, called Now Discover Your Strengths. This book, by Marcus Buckingham, really talks about looking at peoples strengths as opposed to their weaknesses for development. If you look at someones weakness, its usually something they dont want to do. If you look at somebodys strength, its usually something that somebody enjoys doing, and so they want to do it more. This is just one of the many assessment tools that you can use. Thats one in particular that I find is very helpful. Other organizations use, as this slide mentions, the Myers Briggs Wonderlic PI and Human Synergistics. Myers-Briggs, of course, is one that has been used for years and years and is probably the most popular, the most well known, more of a personality assessment. The Wonderlic Assessment, that is a company out of Chicago. They actually have an IQ assessment, but in addition, they have a number of other tools, a CPP or Comprehensive Per sonality Profile, which is helpful. Another tool that a lot of our clients have used is a Predictive Index, or PI, which was created by, I believe, the Air Force after World War II. Another one that we use a lot is Human Syngergistics, which is more of a behavioral assessment as opposed to a personality assessment. That Human Synergistics measures candidates on 12 different factors. Their ability to mentor and their ability to work in teams and the like. These tools can help you to uncover what sort of development areas or strengths your management team and their subsequent direct reports will have. I always caution organizations because these tools are fantastic tools as a management tool. I always caution people to put a little asterisk here. Be careful how you use them in hiring, because there are some legal battles that have occurred because people said they used these tools as a selection tool, and thats a whole other webinar in itself that Im not even going to get in to. Theyr e really helpful as a management tool, once again, to uncover what exactly your managers and their direct reports skills are. I thought it just might be interesting to see, on this next poll, if any of you are using different assessment tools within your organization. I picked the three biggies as far as we see them, but Ive also got a selection here of others. If you can take a moment to punch in if your organization uses these, and well see what everybody does. [silence]Okay. All right, our poll just ended and we should show the results soon. Okay great. Thank you, Brittany. Okay, I see the results on my screen. I dont know if everyone else does, so I can give you the results here. Myers Briggs was only 7 percent. TI was 6 percent. Do you see the results now? Yes. I see them. 69 percent from none. Wow. Interesting. I have mixed feelings about that Randi because as I said, I always caution people using these tools or relying too much on the tools. Weve got to remember that its just another potential data point, so in a way this is good, and in a way this is bad. But, you may want to look into these tools in order to help you understand who your team is and what strengths they have. Okay, as far as talent gaps. This is something that I was alluding too with my client in the owners manual business. As they continue to grow, they really spent a tremendous amount of time in the back end of fulfillment of the business to ensure that they had the right people as Vice President of Quality, and Vice President of Manufacturing and Operations. They really wanted to make sure that the delivery system was intact and they spent a lot of time focusing on that, which is very important because the document which is in everybodys glove box, which nobody reads, is legally required by the automotive company. So, they need to have this document there and it has to be picture perfect, so that is very important. However, as the company looks at strategic areas to grow, because they focused so much on the back end, they had a major talent gap in the Sales and Development area. So, these talent gaps can be viewed just by doing, as we were talking about before, simple monthly discussio ns with the supervisors and direct reports. But also, theres other things out there like your 360 organizational assessments, and even the Myers Briggs in a way, that will help you to understand which personality types are, and are not, represented within your organization. And sometimes those personality types are attributed to finance, versus sales, versus human resources, etc. I also had another particular organization I thought I would highlight, a German family business in Europe. You see the prevalence of family businesses much more frequently in Europe than you do here in the United States. This is a 2 billion dollar German family business which makes pneumatic and hydraulic controls for robotic applications. They mostly do stuff in the food industry, but theyre also serving the electronics industry and the automotive industry. Theyre very strong in Europe and not so strong in the U.S. Having a team here in the U.S. of about half a dozen people, they were really going after the what we call big three Ford, GM, and Chrysler for programs in the United States. What they quickly realized is that the American automotive industry is no longer just in the United States, and these organizations that may be head-quartered here in the Detroit area, are doing business and launching programs all over the world. So, they quickly found that the American executives here were not the best focus to help develop business in South America. And right now, South America Brazil specifically is quite a boom area and as it applies to the automotive industry, is significantly increasing as well. So, they really wanted to have an executive join their team a sales executive to help them grown and nurture that business in South and Central America. So, these were just gaps that were realized as they looked at the revenue streams and saw that they were missing out on that particular revenue. I just want to quickly go back to the item about assessment tools. As I recall, another client of mine that actually missed out on a number of good candidates because they were too strictly adhering to their tool, and not looking at candidates. I think thats very important also. You have to look at candidates holistically. One of the other ways that you can really stay in tune with how youre developing your succession plan, and developing your team, is to be plugged in to some other information-sharing organizations. So I listed some here. One is Vestige formally known as Tech, which is an organization of business leaders across the United States. Theres usually a Vestige group in every state, and they have several different groups. They start with the business-owners groups, or business leader group, which is the CEO or president. They meet monthly in a confidential setting with a facilitator. And they will sit and talk about strategic business issues in a confidential setting. You will be sitting in a room with people from many different organizations and different industries. There are no duplicate industries in the same room. And this will be a group that youll be involved with for years and years. Its very helpful to me to hear how other organizations deal with strategic issues. And it helps me to uncover gaps just by hearing how other organizations address it. They also have something called a Key Group, which may be a good group for your managers to get involved with, because managers can hear about other leadership and management tools from other organizations without fear of sitting in the same room with the competition. So thats very, very helpful. And of course for the HR people, there is SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, and there is a ton of information on that website about succession planning and how to uncover gaps. So those are two very important organizations to check out. As far as retention strategy, its really asking yourself the question, Why do people stay with you? Today we all know that career mobility has really heightened and changed from 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. And we really want to find out what keeps people happy and give them more of it. So talk a little bit here, theres a internal questionnaire, and this really could be something as simple as a paper and pencil assessment. Or can be something as complicated as, theres a local company here called E-Price which will survey your employees and give you some ideas why theyre sticking around. They also have Survey Monkey, I think does this, and theres organizations that go on and on and on. So I saw one of my clients quickly realize that a VP was really managing their team by the senior intimidation. It was due to this very item, this internal questionnaire, that they discovered they were quashing the creativity and growth of their direct report. So I think that today, with all the things that we have to do in business, and to stay so busy, and stay on top of everything with our Blackberries and iPhones, sometimes we lose sight of whats going on with maybe two steps below us? So, these sort of questionnaires can help to uncover what is going on in the organization. Of course it has to be done in a very confidential fashion. People cant feel like theres going to be any retribution, and they do have to see some follow-up, because, otherwise its just an exercise in futility. The thing that we see in family businesses is that the good news is the same with the bad news. In family businesses, turnover is low. So this can be a good thing. This can also be a bad thing. It could be a good thing because you found a lot of institutional knowledge. People become very proficient in their area, and their industry. Could become a bad thing because youre not growing, and staying stagnant in certain technology or other areas, and these sort of questionnaires will uncover things. I was going to do another poll here but this is probably the easiest question out there which most people have already answered. The number one reason why people leave jobs is not money, its not benefits, its not vacation time, its their boss. This is a helpful retention strategy, keep that in mind as youre managing your people. Moving forward. It really takes a special kind of leader that can see around corners, and understand whats going to come next in the industry. Many of our clients were quite happy that they saw the mobile apps business boom and kind of tied their kite to it, and had a lot of success carrying them forward into a different technology. But not everybody saw that coming. So thats just kind of an example of seeing around corners. But how do you, as a professional try to leverage that as much as possible? (This could be as simple as an RSS feed and theres many different apps and I wont go through all of them I particularly like and Im going to talk about a couple of different things but, indeed.com which helps me to track changes and rules and responsibilities within organizations.) You can play around with that a little bit. The bureau of labor and statistics, which I believe is just bls.gov put out by the federal government has a lot of good definitions and you may uncover some new and different rules in there. Got to give a nod to our host of course, Monster, we go there all the time to see whos posting for what, and tracking changes. And then, outside of those things, how do you educate yourself? And I find these magazines like The Futurist or Wired, helps you to keep your mind kind of fresh, and thinking outside the box. I actually get these [?] quite a bit, because Im a bit of a sci-fi nut and I like my Star Trek. As a matter of fact, Mr [?] [called?] a lot of stuff that we were using in business today. So even something as oddball as that and I am one of those oddballs, can help you stay in the front of any future strategies and rules and responsibilities. The next item has to do with a talent folder. I think that this is something that people really overlook quite often. Certainly being here in Detroit with such a severe unemployment, I like to tell everybody we are back on the come-back trail and things are very much happening in Detroit right now, which is good news. But for several years there were a lot of people in transition. Which is just a polite way of saying, They were out of jobs. And it has always been a strategy of our firm and our clients to met with those individuals who approach companies looking for employment. Take the opportunity to build what we call, a talent folder. You never know when a succession issue can strike you between the eyes. A lot of the things in the previous slides that I was talking about, has to do with how to plan and organize your company, in order to develop and grow. This particular type of succession planning with a talent folder, is kind of a stop-gap measure, because you never know when som ething might change. Or when you can go back to that talent folder, reach in and find a gem, and fill some gaps. So when people come to you, meet with them. And I know that maybe one a month, is better than none a month, so we advise our clients to do that all the time. Theres also constant changes in employee awareness and support. So what are they concerned about? What did they see coming down the pike? And really, the answers are within your organization. If you take the time to talk to them and understand what they see, youll actually uncover a lot of great opportunities for you to grow, and expand in different areas. Well I kind of breezed through that information very quickly, sorry about that Randy. But I think weve come to the QA section, and see if anybody has any ideas that they want to fire away at me. All right. Well, thanks so very much for your expertise. For sharing your knowledge with us. Im going to ask Sharon, our operator to ask if theres any questions on the phone line and then well get to some of the questions that have been typed down. So, while were waiting for some questions over the phone. Some of the questions that have been typed in. Well start with those. One says, How can you judge if a person would be good for the next level before they get there? [laughter].The simple answer is, they ask you. Usually people self-select. So folks that are very motivated to grow will verbalize that to you. But more importantly, than just somebody self-selecting, you really have to look at their behaviors, because behaviors speak louder than words. So what are they doing to advance the business? Are they helping people in different divisions or departments? Are they looking at potential opportunities for growth within your business? What added value are they doing above and beyond their job description? And that really is going to tell you if they have akill ability which is the buzz term people use. We have another question that asks us, Do succession planning strategies differ by industry? Im in health care. Yes, indeed it does. We have an individual here who focuses on search in the health care industry, and as she relates to me the projects that shes working on, I see a very thorough approach to succession planning in health care. So, as I said at the beginning of the presentation, really most of my work is with family businesses and family businesses deal with some obvious succession planning issues. But certainly, I would say that health care, just at the top of my mind, since the person asked, has to be one of the most thoroughly approached as far as succession planning is concerned. Theres a number of publicly traded companies that focus on this as well. One of the very large tier ones, I will not mention the name. I visited with them a number of years ago and I asked them about their succession planning. What would happen if something happened to the VP? Unfortunately, that does happen. Who would take their place and continue to grow and move the business? And I kind of got a blan k stare. They werent really prepared for it. And so, I fear for those organizations that dont have their succession plan, who dont pay attention to this. Because it could be a business killer. We have a question that asks, At what point should an organization consider removing a boss when they are assess retention or the creativity, productivity are direct reports? Can you repeat the question? Sure. I think someone is forcing a succession plan here. [laughter] It says, At what point should an organization consider removing a boss when they assess retention or the creativity and productivity of their direct reports? Interesting. I think the French call this a Coup detat. This is something that its sounds like almost an ad agency or for something especially creativity. It depends on the organization. Ive worked with companies that were employee owned, were ESOPs, employee owned companies, and in that sort of instance, the company actually has a built in power to do just that, and Ive seen that happen with a President who was stifling creativity. It was actually a design engineering firm and they ousted him. It happened. If theres not an ESOP in place, what you have to do is make a case. Its very difficult if youre going over someones head but if you take a moment to assess the business implications of what youre doing, if youre looking at dollars and cents and revenue and profit, and you can make a case, well I would imagine, and Im just kind of spit-balling here, but I would imagine that the board of directors or owners of the company would be very interested in those findings. But you have to b e very factual about it. Be very careful. Can I ask Sharon if theres any questions over the phone line? I do have a question coming from the line of Mark Tyson. Please proceed. Yeah, I guess I heard part of it in the beginning but Where one begins in a succession planning in a small not for profit organization, do you begin with identifying the candidates that you propose might be on a fast track, or do you begin by looking more clearly or closely to identify the attributes needed for the various senior management jobs? Good question Mark. I would actually start a level above that and just kind of understand the organization as a whole first doing a 360. Then you can kind of break it down to the two steps that youre talking about, because once you do your 360, then youre going to understand where your gaps are. The next step would be to determine what knowledge, skills, abilities, personality traits, etc., attributes I believe as you said fit within the organization. And then you can take the step down, look internally at who you have, and do they fit into the organism that youre describing. Then if not, you have to look externally. Okay. Do that rather than try to sell the gaps in their backgrounds in order to bring them up to speed for the K.S.As that you need. Well if folks are open to the continued development and education, thats fantastic, but does the education fit in with what your organization needs? Somebody wants to go back to school and be an engineer, and youre an advertising agency, how is that going to help you? Or youre talking about non-profit firms. So if somebody wants to go back and be an engineer and youre a charity, how is that going to help your organization? Right. Okay, thank you. Yes, absolutely. Thank you for the question Mark. Im showing no further questions at this time. All right. Well thank you Sharon. We have plenty that are coming through Webex so well go back to some of the questions that have been typed in. We have a question here that asks, Do you have an example of a succession plan that was very successful that we can use for our management? An example of a succession plan that you can use for your management. One fourth-generation business just did a very sound and thorough assessment of their entire team. And I think that in relation to this question, each succession plan is just different. It depends on your organization. But as long as youre starting at the top and coming down, then its going to lead to a success. Im kind of thinking of the examples that Ive given, for instance the company that makes the owners manuals. They have a very thorough management approach. And in particular, in one sector they realized that a person who was retiring was needed to mentor a little bit more. So they realized that in the next generation, they wanted to bring somebody in who could really mentor the team and take the team to the next level. So, it kind of really just depends on each organization. Sorry about that. Its hard to address that without having a little bit more criteria. I know. Sometimes its hard without some additional background information. Somebodys asking a question. I think it refers to our polls. We did a poll on assessment tools and it says, What other assessments tools are available and is there one thats better suited for small business? Yeah, if you go to Google and type in assessment tool you just ruined your day. Youre going to be there for a long time so there are just a myriad out there, and each one is different. Now, it really depends on what works best for your organization. Another big one out there called the DISC is used by a lot of people. And this is a tool thats also good for 360 viewpoints of your organizations. I particularly like the Gallup poll one that Marcus Buckingham uses in his book because it just its more understanding to me. Others, specifically engineers I have a lot of clients that are more engineering cultures use the predictive index because its very concise and those types of environments like concise answers. So, those are the two quick correlations I would put, but Id have to dive a little bit deeper into that. Certainly, Ive got my email up here on the screen and if that particular person wants to email me about the type of organization you have I may be able to direct you into the specific tool that might be more applicable to your organization. All right. I have another question here that talks about, How can we convince our senior management to do succession planning if they think theyre going to be in their jobs forever? [laughter]. I like that one, so they got a longevity pill going around there. How do you convince them? Well, Im going to assume that question is coming from the leader of the business, but it may just be coming from somebody else on the management team. I would say its incumbent upon you just as the previous question asked to bring facts to the table. So if your competitors are going through the same issues, those sort of examples should be brought to the management team. If youre seeing other organizations having a significant amount of success because of their succession planning then eventually people will see it. Its very difficult to change someones behavior patterns. My undergraduate degree is in psychology and my professors would always tell me, Therapys great, but people are never going to change unless they want to. So youve got to just provide examples and hope that they see it. Cramming it down their throats is not a recipe for success. All right. We also have another question that just says, Who should be involved in a succession planning and in a succession process? Everyone. The entire organization. You do start at the top of course, and since most of my clients are family businesses and they really dont exceed 500 employees, its easier for me to say everyone. So some of you on the line may be from organizations that have thousands and thousands of employees, that becomes a little more herculean. But as long as youre starting at the top so the CEO, President of the organization, and management team really are the ones who should start this. And it should be a value that is woven throughout the organization, because if the organization is interested in surviving beyond 10 to 20 years, they must think about succession planning. We always point to my father who was so smart in his succession planning because he hired me. That was a pretty easy succession plan. Our organization is small with eight people so it becomes a little easier. In the bigger organizations youve got to leave it to the management team. Sharon do we have any more questions on the phone lines? Im sorry. No further questions at this time. All right. Then I just have one more question here and that was Irvine. So the last question here is, What are some of the pitfalls of succession planning and how we avoid them? The main pitfall is the first item that I discussed. That theres a nominal balance here misunderstanding with the term succession planning. So if your organization starts to look at this, its very easy to get bogged down in the legal issues, of the accounting issues that are tied up with succession planning, and not on the people issues. So I would say that the main pitfall is a loss of focus. We all know about scope creep, and we all know that these sort of projects can just spiral out of control. So its great to just take it in small bites and focus on just very key areas. Maybe just starting with the development plan for your key executive and moving from there. So staying focused is the biggest pitfall. All right. Well at this time, I dont see any more questions on the line, so Im going to end our webinar. Id like to again thank Todd for sharing his expertise with us today. Im going to conclude our event. A recording of this event as well as the presentation materials will be available shortly on our hiring site hiring.monster.com. Everything is available under the Resource Center tab. Thanks again very much everyone for joining us. Join us again on May 25th for our webinar on the Myth and Power of Social in acquiring the best talent. Thanks very much. Have a great day everyone. Thank you.