How to Make Your Gut and Brain Hire Together

How to Make Your Gut and Brain Hire Together A few years ago, when I was running my own startup, I had to make a really important hire. It was for one of our first salaried positions, and I wanted to get it right. We interviewed several very qualified people, and winnowed them down to two finalists. We went back and forth over these final two, and finally went with the one who was the most objectively qualified. Ultimately that candidate didn’t work out the way we’d hoped at least not in that original position. In hindsight, I felt that my intuition had told me to pick the other candidate. The other candidate was less qualified, but everyone who interviewed this candidate said they got a “good feeling.” I did too, but I didn’t think following this feeling was the best way to make a good hire. When the first hire didn’t work out, I couldn’t help but second guess my choice. Had I ignored a “gut feeling” and missed what my intuition was telling me about this hire? Over the 6 years that I worked with my startup I got the same feeling several times, often when it came to hiring decisions. Part of me felt that this was a trick, an illusion. My brain gets critical about intuition As the saying goes, “Hindsight is 20/20.” The intellectual side of me says there are two things wrong with believing my intuition would have led me to better choices. First of all, I had no way of knowing the results of the other option in these circumstances. In hindsight, it’s easy to imagine that the other candidate was the better choice, but there’s no way to know. Maybe the other candidate would have been much worse. Second, it could just be a trick of the mind. Small details about a hiring decision, or other decisions we make, loom large in our memory as we search for clues as to how the mistake could have been avoided. We think back on that one comment they made and say, “I should have known!” When it really was just an unimportant detail, and we’re assigning meaning to it now that we know the outcome. This is known as hindsight bias. Of course not all intuition is hindsight, but there are still reasons to be skeptical. Intuition is not always right, it can lead us into making connections where none exist, and falls prey to stereotypes and biases. Studies show that our gut plays a big role in our hiring decisions already. We often spend just 6 seconds scanning resumes. When it comes to interviews, we get a quick first impression of a candidate then spend the rest of the time trying to justify that first impression. Is this our gut talking? If so, it seems prone to making biased decisions that have nothing to do with a candidate’s actual ability to do a job. The argument intuition can’t make for itself Despite my skepticism, I’m not totally on board with the logical argument my brain makes against my gut. For one, some of the best minds in recruiting advise us to listen to our intuition. On top of that, several psychological studies seem to say there is something to our “gut feeling.” One of the most interesting ones involves a game with two decks of cards. Participants can choose cards from either deck and are rewarded or penalized with play money depending on what cards they pull. One of the decks is better than the other. After 50 cards, participants can tell you which card is better, but they can’t tell you why. It takes another 30 cards for them to figure it out. But here’s the fascinating part. It takes just 10 cards before participants start subconsciously favoring the better deck, and their body reacts physically to picking cards from the wrong deck by releasing more sweat every time they reach for it. Turns out our neocortex, the newest part of our brain, is responsible for figuring out why one deck is better. It’s slower than the limbic system, the prehistoric, subconscious part of our brain that causes us to have “gut feelings.” There have been several other studies that show similar phenomena. So, it would appear at the very least there is such thing as intuition, and it sometimes knows the right decision before our neocortex has had time to build a logical case. Between the neocortex and your gut So is there a happy medium? Some place between blindly following either your brain or gut, your intellect or your intuition? I think that clearly, yes, there is. These days when I think I’ve got some sort of gut feeling about a decision, I don’t just go with it. Instead, I do more research, get more opinions, ask follow-up questions and generally dig deeper. Basically, I try to help my neocortex catch up with what my gut’s saying. If I find a basis for the gut feeling, great, I’ll go with it. If not, I ignore it. I take the gut feeling as “maybe you should dig deeper” rather than “maybe this is the right/wrong decision.” In that first example I gave of hiring, I think we did, ultimately, figure out what it was about the other candidate that our intuition favored. Both of the candidates were already part of our company, so we got to watch them develop over time. The candidate we didn’t choose was a better cultural fit, and that turned out to be a really important part of the position we were filling. Ultimately, as the card game experiment showed, time is what our brain needs to figure out if, and why, a gut feeling is correct. So, when it comes to making better hires, listen to your gut, but give your brain a chance to have a say in it too. About the author: Paul Peters is content marketer and job ad writer with Betterteam. Before that he spent 6 years building an education startup, where he was was involved with many aspects of the business, including hiring and marketing. He lives in Whitefish, Montana.

ApplyApp.ly Jobs Suited Only For You (US)

ApplyApp.ly Jobs Suited Only For You (US) What is ApplyApp.ly? Job Search Engines are a part and parcel of graduates lives these days. I would speculate that graduates spend the same amount of time searching for jobs as they spend on Facebook or Twitter. To be honest, job earch engines havent improved or innovated since the start of civilisation, or more accurately, in the last decade or so. Or so I thought, until I saw the name: ApplyApp.ly in one of the LinkedIn groups Im a member of. Next thing I know, I am on it and looking at jobs that match my skills and are right in front of me, waiting for me to apply! What is ApplyApp.ly? In this post I will review ApplyApp.ly which matches skills from your CV or LinkedIn profile with jobs in a specific area. ApplyApp.ly has also got the additional functionality of matching jobs with your Myers Briggs personality. It ranks jobs in descending order of percentage of suitability to your skills. This saves time compared to generic job search engines, which give all the jobs in a particular area or based on keywords you enter. In the age of social networks and online recruitment, ApplyApp.ly provides a good solution for reducing your time in finding jobs and freeing up your time for high-quality applications for the jobs youre suited for. Is ApplyApp.ly user-friendly? At Career Geek, we review job search applications using certain parameters and with this in mind, I have to rate ApplyApp.ly on its technical and usability form, which, I am happy to say, ApplyApp.ly satisfies to a very good standard. The application is easy to use and has a very simple, non-cluttering, straight-forward interface. Something that is missing from most other job search applications. When you visit ApplyApp.ly it gives you the option of either linking your LinkedIn account or copying/pasting your resume.  After that you only need to choose your geographic location of work and personality type and let ApplyApp.ly do its magic and lo and behold, in seconds you will have jobs matching your skill in ranking order. If you dont know your personality type, then ApplyApp.ly is offering a Myers Briggs test package for $29.95 (original price $59.95) Simple. Although we would like to see a demo video of it. As they say, seeing is believing. Cost of ApplyApp.ly ApplyApp.ly is a good product, an application that is helpful and can only progress from its current stage. So then comes the question, how much does it cost to have jobs matched to your personality and skills in a geographic location you choose? Should be FREE to use isnt it? Well, ApplyApp.ly is FREE to use and we like that! At Career Geek we want to see the best deals and quality applications for graduates and ApplyApp.ly makes jobs search very effective and its free to use. ApplyApp.ly Job Hunting Tool To summarise our review, we give a big thumbs up to ApplyApp.ly in for what it does. I definitely recommend it, and hope that the developers add a lot more geographic locations than are presently available. I hope to see at least London getting on the work map within ApplyApp.ly. But otherwise, there isnt any reason not to try ApplyApp.ly for job search and application. Have a look, try out ApplyApp.ly and if this review has been helpful, please leave us a comment. As part of our review, if you have any feedback, feel free to comment below, and the Career Geek team would make sure your feedback is fed right back to the creators of ApplyApp. 11

How To Prepare For An Interview The complete guide

How To Prepare For An Interview â€" The complete guide This post is sponsored by leading London recruitment agency, CharterSelection. Preparing for an interview shouldnt be all about rehearsing the answers. It is more than that. In this article I look at how to prepare for an interview in order to have the maximum chance of getting through it? A lot of the time articles that speak about how to prepare for an interview speak about questions, answers, the STAR method of answering etc. Well, what about the process of reaching the place, clothes, post-interview actions etc? Fig: Total time / effort required on preparing for an interview and steps 1 to 5 showing relative effort required in each and how it adds up to a good interview overall. In today’s world were job seekers travel long distances to go for an interview, it is naïve to think interview preparation is all about question and answers. It’s still a large chunk of it, but there are other things that DO affect the interview. Here’s what I’d suggest you do if you asked me how to prepare for an interview? 1. Confirm the tricky details first before the interview When you get the call for an interview, one key thing to ask is the contact person who you can communicate with to ask any questions that you may have or inform them about any sudden change in your situation. It will also help you take your mind off it, if you ask the question whether the company will reimburse you for your travel/stay to the interview. It is common in the UK that businesses pay for the travel (train second class) and if it is an assessment centre to arrange overnight stay. Ask the question rather than assuming whether or not you will be reimbursed. 2. Next up, plan your travel / stay When someone looking for an internship or a graduate job asks me to give him/her some tips on how to prepare for an interview, I ask them how are they going to get there? And the answer I receive is, “uh… I haven’t thought of it yet.” Well why not? If you want to prepare for an interview well, you need to make sure the end to end process is as smooth as possible and get the more mundane tasks out of the way, so you can fully focus on the face-to-face interview part. Plan your travel in advance. Here’s a tip, if you are taking public transport, always go for the option which is one before (green triangle below) the option that will get you there on time (red triangle below). 3. Plan what you will wear 4 Nights in advance Smart people decide what they will wear a night in advance. A night in advance you will probably be looking at the company website and preparing for an interview. And when you are doing that, you shouldnt get diverted onto the clothes. 4 nights before interview day is 3 days before the interview day. Decide in advance what you will wear for the interview and then a jacket / overcoat depending on how the weather plays out. Guys, especially students and graduates going for interviews, please dress up well. And don’t bust your pockets for these, be neutral and you could do well. You can buy a neutral blue or white shirt, blazer, trousers, tie and formal shoes for under £100. The key is, only wearing these for interviews and that way they will last you well. Of-course you can go for a full suit and shoes which will be under £200. But as a student or graduate I’d say £100 is enough. I like Next Sorry girls, I can’t give any tips to you, but Grace  has written this blog which does focus on the interview wear for women. 4. How to prepare for the face-to-face interview When it comes to preparing for an interview, this is the bit that takes up a large chunk of preparation. Preparing for a face to face interview is fine, if you focus on the company and the sector. This is because, a company would find it reassuring that its employees (or future employees) know about the business and its competitors as well (the sector will take care of it). The key to doing well in face to face interview is staying confident. Which doesnt come naturally to all and it is understood, the more interviews you go to, the more confident you become. Even during an interview, interviewers do know that there will be a few nerves at the start… it is fine. Here are some resources that will help you in this section. 5. Post-interview actions to take away Interviews have been chopped up as some sort of process where you speak to someone, and the person makes a decision and it cannot be altered or you can’t do much after that. That’s wrong and if you are a student or graduate, for you it is clearly wrong. A process of selecting a candidate isnt complete till a decision is communicated to the candidate. Hence, once you finish the face to face interview you could send a thank you note to the recruiter for the process. Whether that is reimbursing your travel or giving you the opportunity to talk to them etc. And finally, if you didnt get the job, part of the process is to ask feedback on your performance. I admit  some companies may not do this, but a lot of them do provide feedback. At one or two opportunities that didnt work out for me, I did ask for feedback and worked on it. It can frustrate you, but always take feedback. It can be a harsh pill to follow, but you will get over it pretty soon. p.s. on this note you can read this article by Asya on getting over job rejections That’s all folks. So next time when someone you know asks how to prepare for an interview â€" send them a link to this post. Let’s move over the simplistic view that it’s all about QA … no it isnt. It is about the overall impression you give to the recruiter. They want someone trustworthy â€" you need to show you can be trusted with your choices, planning, timing, confidence, knowledge and ability (experience). Good luck. This post is sponsored by leading London recruitment agency, CharterSelection. 23

Florida Not Business As Usual For Millennials!

Florida Not Business As Usual For Millennials! This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Enterprise Florida for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine. For those who have little or no first-hand experiences, the mention of Florida might conjure up images of Spring Break or retirement.  But for that vast time between college and the Golden Years, Florida has boundless opportunities to grow and innovate.  Theres a massive talent pipeline and workforce.  And Florida colleges have strong strategic partnerships with major businesses. Heres a look at why Florida should definitely be on your career and business radar. . The Florida Talent Pool From a business standpoint, high quality employees are the lifeblood of the future.  Would it surprise you to learn that the National Chamber Foundation recently named Florida as having the number ONE talent pipeline in the United States? Florida Talent  runs as deep as the waters that surround the state. Well developed integration between educational institutions and business has resulted in a talent pipeline that, as Tony Carvajal  puts it, gets it all right. Floridas Connected Educational Institutions There was a time when a diploma and a handshake awaited you at the end of your college career.  Today, thats not enough.  And Floridas colleges have done something about it.  Take a look at the example below of how businesses such as Siemens, EA Tiburon, GE, NASA, Pratt and Whitney, Verizon . . . and many more . . . are working in conjunction with education. Floridas Cutting Edge Technology Industry With a history deeply rooted in Aerospace, is it any wonder that in Florida Innovation  has grown into an innovative high tech center?  Florida today is a cross section of the worlds leading technology companies, including 5,000 information technology companies alone. And the breadth of technology is impressive.  Digital media.  Medical technologies.  Nanotechnology.  Modeling and Simulation.  Optics and Photonics.  Sustainable energy.  The list goes on, and reaches into every aspect of modern life. Floridas Business Climate and Growth Potential The Florida Business  climate has been ranked in the top five nationally.  According to Enterprise Florida, heres why: Quality of Life.  With great weather, abundant recreation and cultural choices, and an affordable cost of living, both companies and employees love to call Florida home. Workforce.  A talent pipeline estimated at nearly ten million. Trade.  Like no other place in the western hemisphere, theres access to virtually all of the global markets. Infrastructure.  Floridas number two ranked infrastructure connects and moves people, products, and ideas quickly and efficiently. Florida:  Made For Millennials As Ryan Schram of IZEA said, what millennials want is a 24/7 integrated lifestyle.  They want to feel supported and inspired to pursue and achieve their own visions for their careers and their lives. Thats easy to play into with an environment that is fully supportive of technology and has a truly visionary outlook.  Plus, the future holds a multitude of career options.  Consider these noteworthy facts: Florida Institute of Technology raised $123.3 million for its Create The Future campaign. Jacksonville has clocked a 72.4% expansion in tech employment and 17.4% STEM job growth since 2001 Three of the nations twenty fastest growing technology areas for 2017 are in Florida Whether youre pursuing company visions, or career visions, what better place to do that than Florida?

10 Effective Career Tips for Entrepreneurs CareerMetis.com

10 Effective Career Tips for Entrepreneurs â€" CareerMetis.com Being a successful entrepreneur is easier said than done. There’s no set path for becoming an entrepreneur, with most people working it out as they go along. There will be ups and downs, which is all part of the game, yet the end of goal of successful running your own business makes it one of the most satisfying careers to pursue.While there is no blueprint for being an entrepreneur, we take inspiration from those that have successfully forged their own path. Here are 10 effective career tips for entrepreneurs1) Pursue Something You’re Passionate About evalevalAnyone looking to start their own business needs to understand the massive commitment it requires. There are countless hours of work, late nights, and days where it seems there is no end in sight. You need to be prepared for these trying days otherwise it’s going to be much easier to quit.An effective way to remain motivated throughout the more the difficult periods is to pursue something you’re passionate about. Follow your dreams and create the business you want most â€" don’t make the mistake of buying a business solely because you want to be an entrepreneur.When your passionate about your business all the hard work becomes that bit easier. There are no guarantees you’ll find success pursuing your passion, but knowing you at least tried always makes it worth the effort.2) Always Look Towards Your Big Vision The best entrepreneurs are driven by their big vision. It’s the reason they became an entrepreneur and what sets them apart from ordinary people.While not everyone succeeds achieving their big vision, it can still be used to help make it through those inevitable failings along the way, even helping to inspire a new vision that can continue to motivate and drive entrepreneur.When there are tough moments during your career as an entrepreneur â€" which there will certainly be â€" always look towards the big vision in mind to help stay on course and not lose heart. Again, the vision may ta ke you down a different route than anticipated but it can still help you through the challenging times.3) Perseverance is Key Anyone following their big vision needs to understand the importance of perseverance. It’s a trait that all the most successful entrepreneur has used to their advantage so make sure to use it yourself, as it makes achieving your big vision even more possible.evalRemain persistent in times of hardship and use perseverance to help fuel your journey towards achieving your big vision.4) Create a Plan but Be Ready to Pivot Every business needs a plan, so as budding entrepreneur you’ll want to know how to best create a business plan. Even jotting down some basic ideas regarding the business plan and possible marketing methods helps to set both long and short-term goals that will serve as the starting point of your business.However, it’s important to exercise flexibility when planning your business, as many entrepreneurs found success pivoting from their origi nal plan. So, while it helps to set goals and plan your route to success, always be ready and willing to alter it as necessary.5) Do Your Homework evalevalOnce you have an idea of a business you want to create and have created a plan to achieve your goals, it’s time to start doing your homework. Starting a business is far from easy, so taking the time to research every aspect of setting up your new organisation is vital for success.Think about things like your main target demographic, logistics of selling goods or services, marketing your business, and the amount of capital you need to get things going. You must take an objective look at every aspect of setting up and running your business â€" is it even possible to do?Don’t just use books and online resources for this information. Ask people in the industry and fellow business-owners for advice and how they got started.6) Use Your Expertise We all have our own areas of expertise, yet it is entrepreneurs that know how to best ut ilise it to their advantage. This means focusing on skills and knowledge you have while being ready to outsource the areas where you are not.Never make the mistake of trying to be the best at everything for your business, as there are more qualified experts that can get you the desired results. Identify what you bring to table and focus on this.7) Continuous ImprovementWhile your area of expertise should always be your main focus, it’s always good to improve other aspects of yourself. Don’t settle for acceptable, instead take the time to improve in areas that can help your career thrive.Be ready to identify your weaknesses and possible ways to improve them, as simply committing to self-improvement helps to motivate your towards becoming the best entrepreneur you can be.8) Take Risks The risk-return trade-off is something every entrepreneur experiences. Some take the higher risks that often lead to high rewards, while others prefer to play it safe. Those willing to take the risk of accepting a higher loss usually gain the highest rewards, although this is far from certain, so finding a middle-ground is important.Never be afraid to take risks â€" it’s something all entrepreneurs need to do.9) Don’t Overwork Yourself evalEntrepreneurs don’t work your normal 9 to 5 job â€" it’s a long-term commitment that requires endless hours of your time.Getting a business started tends to take up most Life’s too short not to laugh, even as an entrepreneur, while a positive mindset goes a long way towards achieving your goals and overcoming those more challenging moments.

Salary Negotiation Words to Lose and Use

Salary Negotiation Words to Lose and Use I recently saw Sam Horn, author of Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anything at the NRWA conference. Sam talked about the power of words when presenting ideas and discussed what she called words to lose and words to use. I started thinking about the importance of dropping losing words from salary negotiation conversations and replacing them with winning words to preserve the relationship the job seeker has tried so hard to build during the interview and ultimately land the job. Most negotiations fall apart because of the way job seekers ask for things, not because what they are asking for is unreasonable.   Consider these words to lose and words to use:replace but with andI am very interested in your open position, but the salary is too low.I am very interested in your open position and I would like to discuss the opportunity to negotiate the compensation package.The word but cuts people off while the word and suggests continuing the conversation to find resolution.re place you need to with if you couldIn order for me to consider this position you will need to increase the signing bonus.If you could increase the signing bonus, I would be very interested in your offer.The words you need to suggest an order while if you could suggests working collaboratively to find a solution.replace cant, because with sure, as soon asI cant accept the current offer because the amount of stock you are offering is too low.I am eager to accept the offer as soon as we negotiate certain aspects of the package such as the stock options.The words cant because suggest an obstacle while the words as soon as suggest that there is a way to bypass the issue with the other persons help.replace no way with I hopeTheres no way I can accept this offer given the current commission structure.I hope there is room to negotiate the current commission structure.The words no way suggest finality while the words I hope leave the door open for more conversation.What words do you need to lose from your negotiation conversations?

Tips for Writing Your Stevenson Resume

Tips for Writing Your Stevenson ResumeStevenson resume writing isn't something that's easy. But, if you follow some basic guidelines and structure, you can be on your way to getting a job in no time.As a business owner, the first thing you should do is write your resume and see what sort of reactions you get when you apply for a job interview. Writing your resume doesn't have to be hard. Once you have it written, you just need to be able to make it work.You should also consider including some personal attributes in your resume. You may want to include something like 'candidate with entrepreneurial spirit.' This will include things like previous experience as a business owner, an extra in a movie, or even a member of the military. This will help show employers that you can be an asset to their company.Not every specific jobs has the ability to go on a resume. Take a look at your skills that you have available. You may think that this is a good idea but it may not be the best approach for your resume.The best thing you can do when you are looking for specific jobs is to narrow down what you want to cover. Do you want to talk about things that relate to your job duties or that are relevant to your current position?When you create your Stevenson resume, there are several things you need to keep in mind. This includes making sure you write out the necessary information in the correct format. And, when you are writing it, you need to always be short and sweet.Something else you should know is that many employers are going to want you to come back for an interview. It'crucial that you come back for at least two interviews. You don't want to waste any time and try to get away from it.Remember that you are going to have to prove yourself. This means that you should ask any questions you have and be open to changes. You should be comfortable with what you are writing before you actually send it off.