How to Build Employee Engagement Using Social Media - Workology

How to Build Employee Engagement Using Social Media - Workology Social Media has become an integral part of the way we live and work. It is hard to imagine that it is only twenty years since the Internet was created. According to Nielsen research, social network traffic grew by 43% from June 2009 to June 2010. Social network activity now dwarfs online games, email and search as the number one activity. Every single day more people are also now turning to their social networks, as the preferred way to find jobs. Managers need to realise that social media is much more than Facebook or LinkedIn. There is also a level of skepticism and confusion about the value of social media. A communications manager recently told me that she was one of the first people to get a Twitter account, after attending a conference in New York. Currently she still has no active account, and perhaps due to her confusing initial experience, is now a social media skeptic. The astronomical growth of social media has created new ways for companies and candidates to connect online. In the late seventies, the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, was written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie used Hyneks scale of three types of encounters: sightings; observations of UFOs; and human observation of animate beings. Similarly, the involvement of Human Resources with the phenomena of Social Media can best be described and summarized at three distinct levels or types of encounters: compliance; sourcing; and engagement. Level 1 Compliance Legal firms are frequently running workshops, as a number of employers are still working on an effective social media policy. Companies are struggling with dealing with how social networking sites may impact on their workplace, as well as trying to understand the laws and other factors that may impact their approach to social networking. From a compliance perspective, companies may be concerned about the distractions at work, and the consequences of privacy, bullying, and harassment issues that can follow. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia recently released their Social Media Policy, only to experience a massive backswing from employees and unions reacting angrily. Companies need to design a policy framework, which also require education of employees on how to use it in a meaningful way. Level 2 Sourcing A recent survey (The Jobvite Survey: Job Seeker Nation 2010) highlighted that proactive career managers (defined as currently employed and open to a new job but are not actively seeking one) have a very social profile: Facebook (67%), Twitter (28%) and LinkedIn (28%). They are well connected with 52% having more than 50 contacts on Facebook. Younger professionals are using the benefits of technology to build their networks faster, by generating more referrals online, as compared to previous generations that are still preferring more traditional methods. Companies, such as Microsoft, have developed effective recruitment strategies to ensure they manage their online and offline presence to remain an employer of choice. This includes creating a supporting environment for recruits and utilising employee networks to reach those candidates that are not active job seekers. Increasingly, Australian companies, such as Fosters (@FostersCareers), are building strong talent management solution  teams, adept at using LinkedIn and other social media tools to attract top talent, inviting potential employees to learn more about a career with their business. Recruiters are often online for a period, with Ask and Expert segment, to answer any questions that applicants may have. Level 3 Engagement Social networking sites can be great tools for attraction, recruitment, communication, connection and engagement. Social media has also created new business opportunities a recent internet survey confirmed that 68% of users found LinkedIn the most valuable tool. Internal social groups can be connected and engaged through the effective use of social media. Social media is a critical part of communication and collaboration technologies that can help to make people more productive. Clearly there is an opportunity for employees to share ideas, replacing the old style suggestion boxes with a more interactive process, which is being used by many forums to collect views from users. An example is Salesforce.com which is using a Twitter-like product and calling the employees that are using it the Chatterati. These employees are getting their jobs done by using these tools, which creates value for the organization. VicRoads are using Yammer, an internal twitter bringing together all of a companys employees inside a private and secure enterprise social network. According to Judith Pettitt, Executive Director People Services and Internal Communications, more than 20% of their 3,000 employees are engaged in providing valuable shared knowledge on various business topics. It has been especially helpful in organisational problem solving and in seeding ideas. VicRoads has also supported a recent blog project where all staff were able to make improvement suggestions on line, comment on others suggestions and get feedback from the Corporate Leadership Team on implementing the proposals.Using contemporary communication tools makes such a difference to the immediate needs of staff to share their knowledge and effectively engage with each other. Embracing the future Companies need to embrace social media with the same vigour that the internet and websites are today an intrinsic part of the communication within a company. Often it is about making a start. The HR department is the custodian of employee communication. By developing a strategic approach, the HR department can apply social media tools in an integrated way where they have real meaning. Managers often feel a lack of control, particularly when a major change process is taking place. Rather than trying to control the process with zealous compliance, leaders need to embrace change and encourage employees to use it meaningfully to improve engagement. Companies are responding to the growing interest and investment in social media applications, to support the attraction and retention of talent. A few companies are taking a leadership position as visionaries by embedding social media as an integral part of their employee engagement strategy. Charles van Heerden is the founder of WaveBox, a specialist Strategic HR and Social Media consulting firm in Melbourne, Australia. Charles is an HR expert with a strategic focus on Social Media. Most recently he was Social Media and Marketing Director for a HR Consulting firm. Visit WaveBox for more information, as he enjoys blogging about innovative HR practices.

Creative Workplace Trends and Challenges

Innovative Workplace Trends and Challenges Innovative Workplace Trends and Challenges Innovative experts have more alternatives than any other time in recent memory regarding when, where and how they work. This makes the two chances and difficulties for bosses and workers. It's an energizing chance to be working in the inventive business â€" but at the same time it's occasionally scary. The pace of mechanical change is quick and quickening, making serious requests on organizations and imaginative groups. How are associations and experts faring even with advanced disturbance? What are managers' and representatives' greatest concerns today? To discover how innovative experts truly feel about their occupations, organizations and vocation prospects, The Creative Group joined forces with AIGA, the expert relationship for configuration, to lead a study of in excess of 1,000 industry specialists. We likewise counseled innovative pioneers to figure out how they're keeping up and what their organizations are doing to pull in and hold ability in an undeniably serious market. Look at the SlideShare beneath for features and key takeaways from our review. The Creative Workplace: Trends and Challenges from Robert Half Increasingly Creative Workplace posts 6 Key Creative and IT Team Members for Digital Marketing Success Recruiting Freelancers? Here's All You Need to Know Hot Job: UX Designer Configuration Army's Pum Lefebure: 'Change Is Part of a Designer's Job' 5 Ways to Effectively Manage a Team of Telecommuters Man-made reasoning Jobs Could Open Doors to New Creative Careers Why Creatives Need Human Skills as Much as Tech Skills Instructions to Run a Meeting: Tips for Creative Teams

5 Resume Writing Tips for Millennials

5 Resume Writing Tips for Millennials 5 Resume Writing Tips for Millennials 0Resumes are presently changing to mirror the worth and characteristics of the competitor looking for an occupation. The best approach to introduce yourself is very unique contrasted with how your folks composed resumes. New and built up experts need to assess their resumes, and underneath are five resume composing tips to kick you off. The following are some key attributes that separate twenty to thirty year olds' (or age Y) resumes from age X. Also, you will discover a few notes that will help you in separating yourself from different contender for the ever-changing and soaked employment advertise. Here are five resume composing tips for recent college grads! Introducing the Value Statement You might be thinking back to your secondary school resume and thinking, Goodness, you mean a target explanation right? No. These are two totally different things. A target articulation is an obsolete configuration. Resumes are presently intended to give a worth articulation typically a couple of little sections that outlines a competitor's best characteristics and abilities, and afterward approves them here and there. This shows the planned boss what the competitor is offering the organization instead of what the applicant needs from the activity they are applying to-a composing style regularly found in gen X resumes. No Fluff Resumes that are written in an esteemed situated way is a key part to making a gen Y applicant remarkable from the others. Content must be less errand based and greater accomplishment based, as businesses need to realize what you can accommodate them/their organization, and not what you need to escape work. Gen X resumes were frequently composed or introduced such that outlined a synopsis of capabilities or delicate abilities, for example, I am very objective situated, a diligent employee, and I have superb relational abilities. That is extraordinary, in any case, gen Y resumes need to give confirmation of those significant characteristics. Venture Work and Achievements You can feature your venture work to make a greater accomplishment based resume. Undertaking work can be anything from significant however important tasks you finished in school, during an entry level position, or particularly on the off chance that you have just begun working in the field. Activities are additionally comparable to accomplishments since they approve your aptitudes and errand based data. However, recall, contingent upon the activity you are applying for, ensure the undertakings are important or offer some benefit to the organization. Pertinence Initially, gen X resumes showed the entirety of the competitor's understanding. An individual might be going after an office organization position, however will list the entirety of their experience including their late spring secondary school occupations. Your jobs as a repairman (or whatever) don't give pertinent or significant aptitudes to a salesman job. To proceed in following this model, on the off chance that you have specialist and deals understanding, take out the repairman experience so you can move the concentration to your business encounter and accentuate its related accomplishments. The business is going to need to perceive how much cash you can make, not on the off chance that you can fix their vehicle. This will in general concern some in light of the fact that their experience might be constrained. On the off chance that that is case, you should even now attempt to underline the pertinent experience first. At that point to show life span in your vocation you can pull out abilities from your less pertinent occupations that may in any case offer some incentive to the activity you are applying for. Did you give clients incredible help while fixing their vehicles? Fantastic! That is a significant attribute that is relevant to deals. Remaining Simple This point isn't as pertinent to gen X resumes, yet it has become a developing pattern for twenty to thirty year olds. Numerous applicants endeavor to separate themselves from the group by making inventive resumes that have complicated structures with pictures and infographics. While this may look pleasant on paper, don't do it. Since most of requests for employment are finished on the web (a training substantially less normal or non-existent for gen X), most continues are handled through a HR's Applicant Tracking System (ATS). In this way, when you go after a position on the web, any pictures, illustrations, and so on will get mutilated in light of the fact that the framework changes over the document into an ASCII, or all content arrangement. Your resume will at that point look wonky, and some critical data might be dispensed with totally. In addition, HR staff need to take a gander at many resumes. In the event that they go over a wonky looking resume that is missing data, they wo n't take a gander at it. Basically more or less, a fruitful resume requires esteem situated substance that shows what you can offer the business not the opposite way around-just as data that is venture/accomplishment based and introduced in an unmistakable organization with no lighten content. At last, while sketching out your experience and accomplishments, ensure the data is pertinent and directly to the point to outline centrality so don't get excessively extravagant with excessively formal composition. Perusers, are continue composing tips diverse for millenials than they were for age X? What are a portion of your most loved and most valuable resume composing tips? Offer with us beneath! ResumeTarget.com gives proficient resume composing administrations to customers of all profession levels across North America. We are the main resume composing organization that offers an expertly composed resume-combined with the direction of a selection representative to ensure that your resume will get results. Tweet us with any resume addresses you have at www.twitter.com/ResumeTarget â€" we're here to help!

How to Determine What Your Business Idea Is Worth MONEY

Instructions to Determine What Your Business Idea Is Worth â€" MONEY This story is section two of a five-section arrangement on the most ideal approach to dispatch your own business. As another entrepreneur, you may have little thought of what to charge for your item or administration. Making sense of that is a significant bit of prelaunch legwork. Here's the manner by which to do it. Name the correct cost In case you're remaining inside a similar field, one alternate route is to approach whoever employs outside merchants for your organization what the ballpark value go is for administrations like the one you intend to offer. That will give you a feeling of what the market rate is, says Gene Zaino, CEO of MBO Partners, a firm in the Washington, D.C., territory that gives innovation and different administrations to self employed entities. Some exchange associations put out reports on the going rates in their industry. The administration's General Services Administration site distributes rate plans for organizations that agreement with government offices. Seeing what they charge takes burrowing, yet it merits the exertion. Go to gsaelibrary.gsa.gov. Snap on a branch of knowledge in the class direct, for example, office arrangements, and afterward pick an item for a rundown of contractual workers and costs. At last, you can likewise essentially go windowshopping. Put yourself in the job of a client and request value cites. Taking a gander at your rivals or comparative items is the spot to begin, says Barbara Roberts, a business visionary in living arrangement at Columbia Business School and a co-creator of The Owner's Journey, an investigation of firmly held organizations. Know your objective Before you set your value, consider your consequences of working together. Whatever pay you need to gain the main year, you have to charge 1.5 occasions that, says Zaino. In the event that, state, you make $120,000 per year in your present place of employment, you'll have to charge about $180,000 to take care of costs like medical coverage, independent work or manager assessments, protection, and running an office to keep up your way of life. Connect for a rude awakening Business people are appropriately known for their good faith. The most ideal approach to decide whether your energy is supported is to compose a marketable strategy, says CPA Paul Gevertzman, a duty collaborate with the bookkeeping firm Anchin Block Anchin. This record normally incorporates a depiction of your item or administration, your promoting plan, a market examination, and budgetary projections. For help, utilize the SBA's Business Plan Tool. At that point get criticism from a guide or a bookkeeper who serves different organizations in the field. (Recall the professionals you met about the market for your thought? Tap that pool for a coach.) The key is to make sense of if all the things you expect are reasonable, Gevertzman says. If not, you must give genuine idea with respect to how to make it work. On the off chance that it doesn't turn out to be on paper, it's presumably not going to work. Investigate what's to come Another motivation to do a marketable strategy is that it can enable you to gauge what you'll procureâ€"year one and past. Your projections ought to be founded on the business you have just arranged, assuming any, or hope to arrange soon, just as statistical surveying that recommends the amount more business you could sensibly procure in the following year or two. Next in this arrangement: 4 Smart Ways to Fund Your New Business

ISAT Results Youre An Empathizer - Work It Daily

ISAT Results Youre An Empathizer - Work It Daily Is it accurate to say that you are prepared to get HIRED? In view of the consequences of the ISAT, you're... an EMPATHIZER. Mindful and well disposed, EMPATHIZERS are the people everybody wants to have in their group. You put individuals first, ensuring everybody's sentiments are considered. Investigate the accompanying matrix to study your expert qualities as they identify with the other three Interaction Styles: Collaboration Style Assessment | Work It Daily Each Interaction Style is significant in the working environment. In any case, the way to being fruitful at work and as a component of a work group is to comprehend your Interaction Style so you can A) pick a job in the group that use your style's qualities, and B) comprehend different styles in your group so you can speak with them successfully. Regularly when an individual is miserable in their present vocation, a significant part of the difficulty can be connected to their Interaction Style. Some adversary the accompanying difficulties are instances of Interaction Style-related issues: Having a supervisor who's style is the total inverse of your own, prompting miscommunication and disappointment consistently. Having colleagues who don't value your Interaction Style and who don't regard your sentiments. Having a vocation that doesn't permit you to convey in a way that causes you to feel glad and satisfied. Having an occupation that doesn't advance or worth your specific Interaction Style. What numerous individuals overlook is that there are four diverse Interaction Styles. That implies, at some random time, as much as possible be lost by your style and incapable to identify with you quite well. Therefore, it's significant that we observe how our Interaction Style can be misjudged by others in the work environment (particularly, those with a style that is inverse of your own), so we can make a solid effort to limit struggle and breakdowns in correspondence at work. Investigate the matrix beneath to perceive how you may be mis-seen by others: Connection Style Assessment | Work It Daily OUCH! The data above isn't amusing to peruse, yet we should recollect that our qualities are our shortcomings as well. Your Interaction Style serves you well. You wouldn't have created it throughout the years in the event that you didn't think that its compelling. However, we should likewise perceive that deciding to be one style implies having characteristics that won't generally be increase in value by others. How would we limit any negative impacts from our Interaction Style? We pick vocations, oversees and organizations to work for that grasp and influence our remarkable style. Here is a diagram that can assist you with perceiving how to evaluate what sort of employment will suit you best: Communication Style Grid | Work It Daily Would you be able to perceive how your style impacts your capacity to be glad at work? Think about the one employment in your past that you abhorred the most. Do you currently have some knowledge regarding why it wasn't a counterpart for you? In rundown, Interaction Styles sway our capacity to accomplish objectives in two different ways. To start with, the Interaction Styles of others directly affect our impression of our profession circumstance. You should ensure you perceive how individuals see things in an unexpected way, in light of their own Interaction Style. Besides, every Interaction Style has the two qualities and shortcomings. Perceiving how they sway your capacity to succeed can assist you with expelling the detour keeping you away from the individual and expert fulfillment you look for. In this way, the more you endeavor to comprehend and welcome all the Interaction Styles, the simpler it will be to discover approaches to work with them. influence your won qualities as much as possible while attempting to limit the effect of your shortcomings and your vocation will go higher than ever! It is safe to say that you are prepared to get HIRED? Watch our free instructional exercise 8 Ways You're Being SHUT OUT Of The Hiring Process with vocation master J.T. O'Donnell to discover what's keeping you away from getting recruited… and how to fix it! WATCH NOW - Have you joined our vocation development club?Join Us Today!

The Thrill of Closing the Deal; Landing a Sales Job

The Thrill of Closing the Deal; Landing a Sales Job The Thrill of Closing the Deal; Landing a Sales Job Agent secures new position and has a ton of fun selling himself at systems administration occasions along the way.John Delaney was unsettled to get laid off. Be that as it may, thinking back, he said searching for a vocation was somewhat fun.Except for awakening in the night and considering what might befall me, I appreciated the experience, he said. On the off chance that I could make work out of being jobless, I would do it. It's the test, the capacity to arrange, sharing thoughts around a typical issue - a great deal of these aptitudes are equivalent to when you are selling items or services.Delaney, who was laid off from his activity in outside deals for Salary.com toward the beginning of January, wasn't totally astounded when he got his formal notice. There had been a few rounds of cutbacks before that, he said. They had just taken the base entertainers. There was a workforce decrease of 33% of the U.S. workers, and I was a remote representative. At the point when business began to tumble off a bluff, in August 2008, I was trusting I had enough energy to endure, however that wasn't the case.However, his past boss gave him some excursion pay just as two months of advance on his pay, a sufficient pad with the goal that my legs weren't completely cut off, he said. The organization likewise set him up with work advisor, who helped him in various ways. I met with her once every week. We invested a great deal of energy getting me out before individuals. The directing assistance facilitated organizing occasions, and let me think about other systems administration occasions in my general vicinity. The advisor showed me how to meet and helped me pare down my resume.They likewise discussed work sheets, however it was a companion who alluded him to Ladders. He said he had a couple of companions who had accomplishment with it, however when he originally went to take a gander at it, he was astonished that he needed to pay to utilize it. My companion stated, 'Attempt it , you can drop it whenever,' Delaney said. Thus, he paid his $30 and began getting leads from the site.Delaney, who lives outside Philadelphia, was searching for a business work that would permit him to keep on working in the Philadelphia zone. I have two young men going into secondary school, so we were not moving, he said. I pledged to the family that I would maintain three sources of income in the event that I needed to as opposed to move.A bonus of offersHe didn't need to think about that alternative. In mid-February he got notification from one of the organizations he'd applied to, Corporation Service Co., for a business position. The organization, situated in Delaware, required an outside salesman for its mid-Atlantic area. Inside about fourteen days, he got an offer. Two different offers came in that equivalent day, he said. Perhaps it's a little simpler getting a business line of work than different positions at this moment, since organizations are searching for income gene rators.But, he stated, he never underestimated that a vocation was unavoidable. Regardless of how qualified I thought I was for an occupation, it could take three or a month to get a reaction, he said. I am as yet getting reactions from organizations that I applied to. I think organizations have a tsunami of uses, and they are amazingly careful at this moment. They aren't reacting as fast as they used to. They are screening cautiously. So I believe it's not strange for things to take longer in this activity market.Delaney said that he was entirely OK with the systems administration process - to some degree, he stated, in light of the fact that it utilizes huge numbers of similar aptitudes he utilizes in his work. Deals is knowing your crowd and making a need. With systems administration, you are the item you are selling. In a way, he stated, he was sharpening his activity abilities as he searched for a job.Lending a handDelaney, who began his new position toward the beginning of Mar ch, has kept on systems administration, to some extent to help companions from Salary.com who were likewise laid off. I've sort of made it my crucial focus on systems administration, he said. I'm keeping in contact with individuals, regardless of whether they helped me find a new line of work or not. I advise individuals to go at work search locales and take an interest in discussions, (where) you can talk with others and get some answers concerning events.You need to do it however much as could be expected, and you need to associate with the same number of individuals from multiple points of view as you can, Delaney said. I'm attempting to keep in contact with the individuals I coordinates with, and I'm glad to loan the advantage of my experience to any individual who asks.He is additionally reassuring companions who are as yet working however troubled in their occupations, to begin their pursuit of employment by systems administration. I've instructed them to at any rate set up th eir resume, and I'll begin giving it around, he said.It was so much fun the first run through, he's doing it again for his companions. He's despite everything getting a charge out of the challenge.There's nobody way that works in each circumstance, he said. You need to test the limits and see what occurs.

Dont Just Train Them To Work, Train Them How To Work - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

Don’t Just Train Them To Work, Train Them How To Work - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach Congratulations. You’ve invested often quite senior management time as well as money in attracting, screening, interviewing and hiring your bright new starters, whether they’re school leavers, apprentices or graduate trainees. And you’ve not done it for the fun of it. You’ve done it because you have work which needs to be done. So to get the best value from all this hard work and investment, don’t you want to: Maximise your return by looking to get the best out of them as soon as possible, and Minimise your risk of losing them unnecessarily and having to start the whole process over again? But are you really giving these new starters all the skills they need to become the productive employees you want, as quickly as possible? Employability skills and readiness for work Those entering the workforce for the first time face the challenges of adapting to an entirely new and unfamiliar environment. It’s not surprising that employers often comment on such new starters’ unpreparedness for the world of work, but given it is a such new world to them, perhaps employers really shouldn’t be so surprised? After all, how well can a school or university be expected to prepare a student for the work role they will have and provide them with the necessary employability skills? Of course employers do look to train their new starters. In a business of any size there will be an induction course, health and safety briefings, as well as technical training on the specific skills the employee will need, the processes and procedures to be followed, and so on. There is an obvious payback in providing the technical skills and ability of how to do the job. But how often does this approach extend to the soft skills required to integrate into the workplace and to become an effective employee? In entering your workplace for the first time, your new starters will quickly need to learn how to manage: themselves their time and work their co-workers, their boss, and working in a team communications (and how to say no when needed) their career people and emotions and even stress If a new employee isn’t well equipped to manage these elements, how effectively are they going to be able to apply all those technical and works skills you have trained them in? And crucially for a return on your investment, how long is it going to take them to become a productive employee? Of course training can be costly. Given retention rates, some will always question any expenditure more than absolutely necessary on training new starters in case they leave. But how often do you consider the consequences of not training on those who stay? So it’s worth considering what the return on such an additional investment in employability skills training can be, both in quantitative and qualitative terms for both the organisation and the employee. The quantitative business case for employability skills training Quantifying the opportunity costs implied by a delay in a trainee becoming an effective and contributing employee is easy to conceptualise, but can be difficult to measure. Employers have always recognised that a trainee tends to be a drain on productivity while they are brought up to speed, and the length of that drain can vary widely depending on the nature of the job. Obviously however, the quicker this process is completed, the less of a drain and the greater the net increase in productivity achieved, and some research has shown that this process can be completed up to 30% quicker where the employee receives a structured skills development and mentoring programme. Other advantages of a faster ramp up to effective status can usually be seen in other metrics and KPIs such as reduced accidents, levels of defects, changeover times or production times, and as these are often already being recorded for management information purposes, consideration of them can go into the mix. In addition, there is also the opportunity cost involved in new employees who are struggling with these skills then becoming disillusioned, disheartened, and even eventually disaffected leavers. If they do, then the whole of your expenditure to date has been wasted and you are back at stage one, facing all those rehiring and retaining costs, whilst also having to deal with the disruption caused by an unplanned leaver. In this context it’s worth noting that together with opportunities for career progression, three of the main reasons employees give for leaving are to do with management failing to: take a genuine interest in their development, develop their skills or provide opportunities to utilise their expertise or abilities, and provide recognition of their contribution. Arguably each of the above has a direct link to the issue of lack of ‘soft’ and employability skills development. The qualitative business case The qualitative elements are obviously much harder to put a definitive value on. Nevertheless they are of real business importance as these types of employability skills should translate through into staff with greater communication and team work skills, confidence, and ability to learn; which in turn should help deliver better business relationships and performance. Creating a business with a reputation for strong employability skills training can also help in other ways including in aiding to attract the best young talent who will be looking for the best support in developing their careers. On the other side of the coin, as well as helping rapidly integrate your new staff into their teams and accelerating their transition into highly productive employees, as discussed above this type of training can also help with staff satisfaction and retention levels. And this is a win-win for the employee as well, since developing key employment skills helps them to develop their self-confidence, communication skills, and ability to work with people, each of which will be vital in helping them to develop their careers, management abilities and prospects. The business case for a joined up training approach Investing in training your new recruits in how to do their job makes obvious business sense. But their job isn’t just the specific tasks they have to carry out. It’s a wider interaction with the workplace, their colleagues, and even your customers, which they need to be equally skilled at to be successful employees. To get the best results both in terms of accelerating your return from the individuals recruited and in maximising retention, you therefore need to adopt a holistic approach to training in the hard skills they need, as well as in the soft skills they will need to use in the working environment. So don’t just give them hard training in the tools for the job. Train them in how to work, how to manage themselves and the people around them, so they can use the tools you give them efficiently for you, as quickly as possible. And by training them to be useful and productive employees as quickly as possible you’ll get the best return for your business, and the best levels of retention of engaged and committed employees. Bio Mark Blayney (www.theworkpress.com) is the author of Your First Job â€" How to make a success of starting work and ensure your first year is the launch of a successful career (ISBN 9780995617018), an essential guide to entering the world of work for the first time.