How to Write a Resume Guaranteed to Win Interviews

In today's challenging job market, it is not unusual for a hiring manager to receive over 500 resumes in response to a single ad on craigslist.com or cw-network.com Add to that the incredible popularity of and traffic generated by Internet job search sites such as indeed.com or 6figures.com and you are easily looking at thousands of resumes sent in response to one job opportunity.

Statistics like these can be incredibly disillusioning, but before you crawl back into bed and hide beneath the covers, you should know that research has proven ways to drastically improve your odds in the job search game and win a highly coveted interview with the company of your choice. As a career management consultant and coach, I have worked with literally hundreds of individuals ranging from new graduates to middle managers to top level executives and, in most cases, they first came to me with resumes guaranteed to land on the bottom of the "reject" heap.

So, how can you avoid the "reject" pile and dramatically improve your job search success? Simple. Think of yourself as the product and your resume as a television ad or "movie trailer". A good movie preview or ad piques the audience's interest and entices them to either run right out and buy that product or make plans to see that movie. They showcase the unique value and positioning of the product and highlight its features and benefits.

Likewise, a well-written and well-strategized resume should prompt the reader (hiring manager) to want to take time out of his busy schedule to set up a meeting with you. Out of the hundreds of resumes piled up on his desk, yours will stand out and win a place top-of-mind. Always remember that when job searching, you are the product or commodity and your ultimate goal is to be bid on by the prospective employer. Simple enough concept, right?

What should your resume include? A resume should highlight your achievements, qualifications, professional experience, skills and education. It should focus on your accomplishments and achievements and clearly showcase your value proposition, preferably in quantifiable terms. Above all, it should answer the questions of "what can you do for me?" and "why should I hire you instead of one of the other five hundred candidates?"

It should not be an inclusive biography of any and every job responsibility you have ever had. As much as we would all like to think that we are truly unique the truth is that hundreds of individuals can do our job. You need to convey why you are the best candidate and the skills and experience that you have that the competition clearly does not. Highlighting your quantifiable achievements will accomplish that goal. Rambling on and on and offering a laundry list of job responsibilities and processes will not.
Directly below your header (name and contact information) should be a professional summary ranging from three to eight sentences highlighting your experience, qualifications, expertise and skills - sort of like a snapshot. The summary should also include keywords or buzzwords endemic to the position and industry that you are targeting.

For example, following is the executive summary for a high-level finance professional:

Accomplished senior finance executive offering tradition of performance excellence with expertise building, leading and advising corporations through complex restructuring, expansion and capital market transactions. Impressive fast-track management career marked by outstanding business development, presentation, negotiation and strategic skills. Valued member of executive team contributing a seasoned, broad-based perspective to create aggressive revenue growth, improved profitability, increased productivity and enhanced internal processes. Expertise in start-up, fast-track growth operations, corporate long-range planning and reorganization, treasury functions and all facets of financial management. Noted as expert rainmaker, forceful dealmaker, and motivational leader. MBA in Corporate Finance/CPA.

Here is the qualifications summary for a OD professional:

Strategy and results-oriented organizational development and technology professional with ten-plus record of leadership success in high performing, global consulting and corporate environments. Areas of expertise include business and management principles involved in OD theory and application and human capital, multi-scale project management, technology, strategic and marketing analysis, resources planning, change and culture management, communications strategy, and performance management development, delivery, and evaluation. Expert in partnering the development of IT processes, policies and standards to achieve enterprise cross-functional strategies, initiatives and goals that guarantee significant positive impact on organizations and staff. M.S. Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

Research has proven that the average person spends about 20 seconds reading a resume. So, why make it difficult for them and get yourself knocked out of the running in the process? Including a well-written summary of qualifications will ensure that the reader (whether a human or scanner) will be able to see your skills and qualifications at a quick glance. Don't expect the reader to read between the lines. Tell them who you are and what you can offer.

Include quantifiable and qualifiable achievements in the form of an accomplishment statement for each and every job you list. An example of a quantifiable accomplishment statement would be:

"Created and developed Chinese-language magazine edition resulting in a 32% increase in sales and a 7% increase in national market share."

Another example-this time, qualifiable-would be:

"Developed and implemented customized database designed to manage production needs and track vendor activity resulting in reduced creative expenditures and improved strategic planning." Always use strong action verbs such as "created", "analyzed" and "spearheaded" in your accomplishment statements. This is not the time to use weak verbs such as "helped" and "coordinated".

If you get stuck trying to come up with solid, quantifiable or qualifiable accomplishment statements, just think about all you achieved in your various positions. Did you increase sales? Perhaps you decreased the time needed to solve software problems at the help desk. Did you develop or create a database? Maybe you improved and streamlined an existing storage system or decreased turnaround time in the creative department. You may want to argue with me about it right now but everyone, and I do mean everyone, can lay claim to a number of achievements and accomplishments. You need not have discovered the cure for cancer for the accomplishment to be considered significant.

Remember, you are the brand and your resume is the marketing brochure featuring you, so you want to make certain that you include all of your features and benefits.

Concentrate on your most recent (10 years) experience. This does not mean, however, that if you have fifteen years' professional experience, you must omit it. It all depends on the type of position you are pursuing. Exclude "I', "me", "my" and "we" from your accomplishment statements and professional summary.

Unless you are in academia or a C-level executive at a Fortune 200, keep your resume to a maximum of three pages. If you cannot fit it on two or three pages, you are writing too much of a biography. I guarantee you that nobody is going to read it-no matter how great it looks or how interesting you think it may be. And, of course, check your verb agreement and get another set of eyes to proofread it. The spell and grammar check features of Microsoft Word© miss at least 50% of errors. Use the time-proven editor's trick of proofreading a document by reading the words and sentences backwards. Why run the risk of being rejected for poor spelling or syntax?

The majority of my clients are uncomfortable bragging about themselves and that is reflected in their resumes when they come to me. Searching for a job is much like the new "three-minute" dating craze. You have to wow them and wow them now or you will not get another opportunity. Your resume is the one time that you can brag to your heart's content, shout off the rooftops, beat your chest-whatever! Forget what your parents taught you about being humble and not droning on about yourself. Remember what your goal is-to get the interview. If you do not succeed at winning the interview you surely are not going to ever be offered the position.

Remember the 20-second rule: to prolong your 20 seconds of fame, make sure that your resume is also well-designed and uncluttered. Even looking at a cluttered page is exhausting! Think about your favorite magazines and how they make maximum use of white space for higher impact. It will have the same desirable effect on your resume. Never use a font size of less than 11 or margins narrower than one inch. Those of us dependent on reading glasses will never be able to read it otherwise, and too small of a typeface will guarantee that the recipient receiving your fax will never be able to decipher it.

If you follow these rules, I guarantee that you will not only have a more successful job search, you will also be amazed at how much your interview percentage will increase. Writing a winning resume is an art, as well as a science. If after a couple of valiant tries, you find that it is not one of your vast talents, take advantage of the services of a good career coach. It will be worth every penny.

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The ABCs of Executive Analytics and Business Intelligence (BI) for Physicians

Are you ready to become a Best-in-Class Medical Practice?

As a physician executive of a medical "business" or "enterprise", in many cases, you are not only the "doc" that treats patients, but you are also the executive leadership team of one.

How will you gather the required business intelligence (BI) to make fact-based decisions and business analyses to run the business and make it thrive?

In healthcare as in other sectors, executives need the ability to look deeper into their company's operational activity and ask new questions.

The answers to this question comes from data transformed into information for decision support. Too often, small practices suffer from little or no IT assistance, and an inability (or time) to get data out of the billing computer and the electronic medical records system to identify and exploit tangible opportunities for top- and bottom-line enhancement. I know it because have practical experience as the practice administrator of a one-, two-, five-, seven-, and even a forty-physician multispecialty group over the past thirty-plus years to personally identify with these challenges.

The qualities that make up a successful physician executive of a small medical practice are as diverse as they are rare.

For most physicians, especially those fresh out of residency or fellowship, business experience and decision context are, and will always be, crucial elements of the physician executive skill set. They don't teach these skills in most medical schools and there's no time to learn it in residency. Then you are forced to go out and earn a living doing something that pays enough to be a sustainable business, and leaves enough left over at the end of the month to pay yourself, save a little and pay down those student loans.

In larger healthcare businesses, (hospitals surgery centers, pharmaceutical, device manufacturing, etc.) one would assume that those executives have a good grasp of the required maturity and domain expertise supplemented by BI tools and technology for factual decision support in plan good strategies. Maybe. And maybe not.

The explosion of business data is affecting enterprises of all sizes and configurations, but the ability to exploit the data and transform it into usable business insight, is what distinguishes Best-in-Class organizations from the rest. So, enough talk about all those other businesses. Let's get granular:

How is a boutique medical practice with 600 patients or fewer going to access better business information and turn it into something useful to make the practice thrive?

Is that data need any different in a solo practice of a physician with 3500 patients? Not really.

What are your top barriers to accessing timely and useful business intelligence data?

In a recent survey on our website, where multiple responses were permitted, physicians answered almost equally that they faced the following challenges with business intelligence gathering, analysis and use:

• Lack of IT resources (20%)
• Software and services are too expensive (20%)
• I don't really feel confident that I know what I need (20%)
• Technologies are too difficult to implement and maintain (20%)
• I don't have the time to pull it all together on a regular basis (20%)

While each of the challenges listed above contain their own classic story, perhaps the most interesting is what is missing. Very few physicians or their administrators or consultants need convincing when it comes to the value of BI and the ability to make timely, data-driven decisions. Building the business case is not the issue. The challenge is marshaling both the monetary and the human resources necessary to capitalize on the data flowing into their practice on a daily basis.

Perhaps the most important aspect of efficient business intelligence (BI) is the underlying data that feeds into the analytical systems. Cleanliness, relevance, and timeliness are all crucial aspects of data that dictate the quality of the business insight that can be generated from its analysis.

As medical practice business data continues to grow in both volume and complexity, the need for efficient data management becomes an even greater imperative. Best-in-Class medical practices recognize the importance of these factors and have aligned resources internally or externally to provide access to more key business data, metabolize new disparate data sources quicker, and deliver valuable insights within the window of opportunity to effect positive change.

Best-in-Class medical practices optimize their internal capabilities and skill sets to generate an environment that efficiently collects, assembles and delivers mission-critical insight in a meaningful and practicable way to the person or people who have the ability to affect substantial business performance improvements.

What have you done at your practice to prepare to become Best-in-Class?

Key Pressures Driving Physician Investment in BI:

1. Inability to identify revenue growth opportunities
2. Poor visibility into day-to-day operations
3. Slow access / lack of access to relevant information
4. Insufficient insight into competitive activity

In many ways most CEOs face the same issues

I've been the CEO of a company since 1979. I've been married to the CEO of another company for almost 15 years. Before that, he was the CEO of a company for 6 years. Like you, both of us find that even though we are in totally different sectors, we are both concerned with the growth strategy and long term health of our companies. We are also, in our late fifties, and as such, are concerned with exit strategies and planning for retirement in the next decade. His last venture sold for $15 million. What will we do with what we are building when it's time to start thinking about that apartment in Spain or Bangkok?

Day-to-day fires are dealt with on an ad-hoc basis. We are both active on different community organization boards and committee chairs. Those boards and committees are made up of other CEOs, community leaders, and tradesmen and just good people, much like our employees. Lots of times, people preface questions to us about the longer term strategic issues facing the organization or committee by saying, "you're in business, you know how to do these things better than us... how do we... ". It feels just as familiar: where's the data to use as a guide or provide insight?

The ability to find and exploit opportunities for revenue growth, new markets, new products, new services, etc., is crucial for a medical practice company leader. An efficient analytical strategy can support this need. So how can a physician that owns a small concierge practice build one?

Here are some data that you need in order to start collecting BI about your practice:

1. Operating profit: Measured as an average of year over year change in operating profit/ EBIT

2. Organic revenue growth: Measured as an average year over year change in organic (non-acquisition related) revenue

3. Customer retention rate: Measured as an average percentage of customers retained over the previous 12-month period.

4. "Good" Employee retention rate: Measured as an average percentage of the good employees retained over the previous 12-month period - Poor performers and laggards detract if you retain them, and training cost money and productivity if you have to keep replacing the good ones because they were recruited away from you by your new market entrant or existing competitor.

In my company and my husband's company, our most important job as a business leader is to define and communicate the corporate strategy that we came up with as CEOs, and transfer the plan to those who are charged with executing against it. In the case of a concierge physician, that includes the biller, the receptionist, the membership sales coordinator, the person assigned to marketing and social media coordination and networking and public relations, your nurse, your HIPAA privacy officer, and probably your spouse or significant other - who is wondering if your strategy includes being home at a reasonable hour for dinner.

Chances are those first four data points are already available to you and you don't need to buy more technology, equipment, software, or tools. You probably aren't maximizing that which you already possess.

How to best use the data you already have

With those four as a start, the next key priorities are to enable more data to pervade into more areas of the business, and ultimately allow more of the vital organizational data to be analyzed and visualized.

As consultants, we often bring these four questions and data points to every initial consultation. When we ask client physicians for the data among other data to do a practice assessment, you'd be surprised about how many have never seen these reports or used them to consider strategy. You don't need a consultant to ask the questions; but you might want help initially, to do something with the answers.

When we work with clients, we also bring those next key priorities in the form of a list of things that should be known about a practice. From there, we ask the physician to choose those data inputs that he or she feels would be helpful to move towards that Best-in-Class category. We discuss how each one fits into the analytical process to build strategy. Again, you don't need a consultant for this if you have the list of question, but you may want coaching from a knowledgeable practice management consultant to help you the first time. Any healthcare consultant with experience has heard more than once, "see one, do one, teach one" as has every physician.

Barriers to access

New clients often articulate that while they have the greatest need for analytical capability, they often have some of the greatest barriers to getting their hands on it. So often, they are the "Chief of Cooking and Bottle-washing". It is quite possible that when the software selected to run the practice was purchased, no one evaluated the analytical tools for complex financial calculations required for financial leadership that may already be in the system but not currently being exploited to the max. Often when we go looking for it, we find a way to make the system generate the data into a nice periodic report and the doctor says "My billing system can do that?" Probably yes.

How to get added-value to the existing tools you already have at your disposal.

The key to value measurement when using a consultant is what they can do to help you maximize that which you already have at your disposal. Not sell you more "stuff". We act as coach, mentor and guide. You have to give yourself permission to be a student again. Then, amidst the perfect storm, need, student and coach intersect, and the magic happens

The puzzle pieces that comprise an efficient analytical strategy are diverse and very often obfuscated. We start out simple. The macro-level vision for BI is achieved by starting with some well-thought out processes that we bring from our experience to help support the collection, transformation, and delivery of your business information in a way and with a frequency to help you make better strategic decisions.

Chief among those processes is the ability to self-assess when we aren't there, and gain an understanding of where things stand today, and where they need to be in the future. That often involves coaching - and mentoring, rather than doing it for you.

Good consultants identify what data sources you have at your disposal today, and what you might need in the future. Then they determine if you already have those sitting inside the billing box and the EMR - just waiting to be asked to produce an output. Sometimes the data isn't connected in such a way that the two sets of data can be "married" into one that helps you make better decisions. If that is the case, we discuss our observation with you, determine if you agree, and if so, help to identify a programmer that is able to dump the data sets into a "bucket" and then use that data to create a report that bridges the two pieces of data into something informative. Then we get them to automate the process henceforth so you program once and use it many times in many ways. That produces the value of efficiency. Knowing what to tie together, who needs to see it and how they can best use it.

Another analysis we perform is to assess how many analytical users you have and what levels of expertise they carry, and how we can tailor the solution to effectively meet everyone's needs. In most client assessments, money is a big object. We have to be good stewards of what meager budget is available for this. This is tantamount to having a car in college: It has wheels, it runs, but it may not be the most elegant car in the parking lot. It needs to be functional, not fancy. Fancy comes later- if it ever comes. It's just data, not a Porsche.

Best-in-Class medical practices have an iterative self-assessment method and regularity in place. They are also more often likely to have a seamless process from all the parts of the business (costs, revenues, overtime, RVU productivity, payer contract denials, appeals, late payments, refund requests, new patient grown, patient transfers to other practices, delays in appointment access, late appointments, patient satisfaction, clinical outcomes, growth, etc.) that flows to strategic decision makers. We prioritize all those data sets and turn them into one compiled periodic report that is easy to read and actionable. If it isn't actionable, what good is it?

Best-in-class medical groups also have a way to ensure that the data is transferred to the front lines as a periodic report into their email on the corporate intranet. These reports should be paperless, and get the need-to-know sections that involve the receptionist should automatically be parsed out and emailed to the receptionist as quickly as the office manager with a message that says "see me", "fix this" "needs improvement" or "great job!". That way, the good employees "get it" and get busy on their own iterative self-assessments, instead of being cajoled for performance. If they don't get it and don't do something to fix what's broken with a solution that is within the brand standard, then the training that is needed is the brand standard, or some options in the form of coaching. Still no improvement or consistency? It won't be a surprise when you bid them adieu andbonne chance.

One of the other areas to which we bring objectivity as consultants is the task of coaching the physician executive on how to develop implement and manage analytical strategy as a part of organizational development. This is not something taught to physicians during their training. That's unfortunate, but it gives a good consultant job security! We teach the executive physician how to assume ownership of the BI needs of the business, and teach a top-down analytical hierarchy. If there is a practice manager or administrator, we teach them to be a BI leader or champion as a back up to the physician executive.

One of my personal favorite activities as a consultant is "silo busting". In healthcare organizations, so many practices, hospitals and other types of providers experience frustration when it comes to functional silos and the barriers that prevent a practice or a hospital or some other provider organization (I'm talking ACOs here, and similar supposedly "integrated" and "aligned" organizations) from enjoying business process efficiency from a cross-departmental perspective.

For example: membership sales data in a concierge medical practice drives financial forecasting. Financial forecasting drives planning and budgeting for new service line launches new technology purchases or leases, new hires of additional nurses, physicians or practitioners, etc. This never ending eco-system of data begs for a level of integration and sharing across business functions. If you don't have this in place, you are missing out on some of the lowest hanging fruit to move your practice closer to that Best-in-Class category.

Making the data more available to multiple business functions, assuming of course the need-to-know and relevant protections are in place, is the first step in the process. But when a good consultant teaches how to maximize the data and what to do about what it indicates, magic happens. Without that knowledge and skill, the data is inert and much less useful. There also has to be a centralized place where all the data lives and where trends can be identified to act as red-, yellow- and green-flags. Data has to remain fresh and not be obfuscated by over-elongated periods of measurement. If you wait too long to take action, the data can become useless because it is too old. Best-in-Class practices use shorter time frames for Measurement & Evaluation (M&E), for at least their top strategic priority data, and decide on a regular frequency to get a fully-refreshed picture in an intuitive and visually appealing way.

Best-in-Class practices are also more likely to leverage automated data generation and delivery of key reports. There are consultants available to help clients from small practices to big integrated health systems and ACOs. The work on designing and organizing vital business intelligence infrastructures for data capture, assembly, reporting format, and delivery that enables faster and cleaner delivery of critical need-to-know information and insight. In some cases, this means calling in other collaborating firms to bring in Master Data Management (MDM) tools for data cleansing, and enrichment, modeling, and more. In other cases, where money and talent are tight, it means performing a tune-up for that jalopy to reliably get back and forth to class and to work each day.

If you think you'd like to explore what can be done with what you already have in place but may be underutilized, contact several consultants for a brief meet and greet comparison and choose to work with the one that seems like their are most closely aligned with your objectives and budget. Chances are, a consultant can do some of the consultative work remotely with proper logins and access to your system after all the non-disclosures (NDAs) and other permissions are in place. Other parts of the consultation must be done face-to-face. If you can't get your system administrator to give the consultant remote access, all of it may have to be done on site (at a higher cost, of course).

Once a consultant is engaged and under contract, they should provide you with few tools and checklists to get started on the remote assessment of what's available that you already have, and start digging into your system to see how to connect the parts to produce useful information from both the practice management system and the electronic medical records system. You may be surprised with what a consultant can get your existing systems to produce from what is already present and purchased without buying additional add-ons. Sometimes, all it takes is for someone to show you how to do the "cool stuff" and set it up for you.

Often, when we are on a project, we find that a software was chosen by a doctor who didn't realize these reports would be helpful, and in the rush to get it up and running, the practice manager didn't understand the importance of BI so he or she skipped over that training or module, and the reporting capability is lying dormant in the box. Other times, it was the sales rep that glossed over that part because they were there to get a signature and a check, and not to bother with explanations about "all these other system capabilities that few people ever ask about anyway." Our corporate ethos is to only ask you to consider buying something new after we've exhausted or optimized every feature that your current system(s) already offer. We tend to be good stewards of OPM (other people's money). Not all consultants work that way. Some take finder's fees for introducing you to vendors.

Regardless of who you choose to help you, let them help you drive insights into day-to-day decisions at a relationship level to find new and innovative ways to grow revenues without raising prices, so you can be in that 20% that ranks Best-in-Class for your specialty or practice model.

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How to Make a Guy Really Want You - 3 Proven Ways to Be Wanted

How to make a guy really want you is easier than you think. Here is my promise to you. In the next few minutes I'm going to reveal three powerful ways to make a guy really want you... things that you can start doing today to improve your love life forever.

Do you constantly think "There's no such thing as Prince Charming - at least for me?" Good - this article is going to point you in the right direction to finding your Prince Charming and Mr Right ASAP.

So You Want to Be a Consultant?

As attractive as it may seem - even glamorous, perhaps - being a Consultant takes work. It's a job. It can also be a business, a career, even a profession, depending on the attitude with which you approach the effort. And, yes, becoming a Consultant does take effort. Make no mistake about that.

What do you need to start? Something you're good at, obviously. Well, not just "good," but as one of my college students once put it, you have to be "gooder" than everyone else. Can you believe a college student saying that? He did. Anyway, to put it in more acceptable terms, you have to have some knowledge, skill or talent - some ability - that's more than, greater than, better than most others in your field.

You can't be just "an expert." You have to be "the expert." "An expert" gets a job, becomes an employee. "The expert," becomes the Consultant, someone many companies willingly to pay top dollar to for what he or she knows or can accomplish.

Is there some test to determine your level of expertise, some license you must study for to earn? After all, attorneys are licensed. So too are real estate and insurance brokers. So, what about Consultant? The simple answer is, "No!" There is no license required to call yourself a "consultant." Some communities may require that you get a business license, but no government body licenses "consultants."

Oh, if you're curious about why I spell Consultant differently a different times - using both upper and lower case Cs - it's because the to me the upper case version identifies a professional, the lower case nothing more than an area of interest, a topic for discussion.

Starting out, the most difficult part of becoming a Consultant is convincing potential clients that you are "the expert." That's a process that begins long before you make the decision to "go it alone." Your expertise is typically based on what you've done - the reputation you earned over a number of years - working in your field of interest. So while there may be no license required to become a Consultant, an often lengthy apprenticeship is usually part of the process.

Keep in mind, too, that becoming a Consultant is not a destination. It's a process. You're "the expert," remember? To remain "the expert," a Consultant must always continue learning. Certainly about his or her particular area of expertise, but also about the various areas on the fringe of that specialty. For example, if you're specialty is marketing, you'd better make it a point to know a good deal about operations, finance, management, even law.

Being a Consultant can provide interesting as well as rewarding work. But it is a job. It still requires that you work at it every day, either working for your clients or working to find additional clients. And it always means you have to be "gooder" at what you do than anyone else if you want to grow your family of clients.

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How Your Business Can Work Like a Football Team

Crisp fall days, the roar of the crowd, the aroma of the tailgate barbeques in the parking lot. If you can't tell already, I am a football fanatic. I love the game, from my days playing in high school, to watching my favorite teams, to coaching and watching my two sons, I love everything about football.

So it's little wonder that I see so many similarities between the way a great football team runs, and a great business. Football is the greatest team game, and successful businesses aren't successful without great teamwork. Let's look at five ways you can get your business working like the most successful football teams.

No football team, whether college or professional, gets anywhere on the field without first assembling a roster of top talent. Isaac Cheifetz, in "Hiring Secrets of the NFL", points out that on every NFL football team, management has to know what the "true musts" of each position are. These are usually a variety of skills and behaviors. For instance, a quarterback must have great composure, awareness, and be calm under pressure. Likewise in the business world, an all-star salesperson must have great tenacity, communication skill, and professionalism.

Let's compare the way top college and pro football teams select the talent for their roster with how your business select its talent. Professional football teams especially, put their prospective employees through exhaustive analysis and measurement in every way. They don't just measure physical attributes, or experience but spend hours and hours interviewing candidates, their former coaches, teammates and other people with relevant input on their past behavior and performance.

How much time do you put into selecting new employees for your business? I'm sure you're interviewing, and checking qualifications. But are you really going deep into what makes them any better or worse than other candidates. How extensive are your interviews? What assessment tools do you use to confirm your interview findings? How do you measure fit with your culture and environment?

Several years ago, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conducted a study on the habits of most hiring managers. They found that in large majority, over 65%, hiring decisions happened in the first 4.3 minutes of an interview. They also found that only 11% of these hires ever lasted more than 6 months with the company. Not a great track record.

Football is the greatest teamwork game. No other game that I've played before has been so dependent on every single player on the field. Each has to do their role exceptionally to have success. Not even the most physically gifted running back or quarterback can do well with an offensive line that takes too many plays off, or just doesn't feel like working today.

I've had the good fortune of being able to coach youth football for many years, starting with kids as young as eight years old. It never fails that after the first game, the two or three players that actually moved the ball into the end zone for a touchdown immediately feel they suddenly did it all themselves. That doesn't fly to well on my teams and they soon realize that they didn't get there alone. Touchdowns happen because of all eleven men on the field (twelve if you play Canadian football).

How similar are our businesses? Do the salespeople who close the big sales really get there all by themselves? What about the great work being done by marketing, or the outstanding customer service representatives. And don't forget about the production departments or engineers that create and produce the quality materials that generate great word of mouth for the sales team.

The very best football teams are those that have a lot of depth at their key positions. When a star player gets hurt, or traded, they have top quality talent all ready to step-up and take their turn being the hero.

A great example of this is the NFL's Houston Texans. During the 2011 season, they had to cope with a season ending injury to their All-Pro quarterback. This was bad but they were fortunate to have an extremely capable second-string quarterback with lots of talent and great command of their offense. Three quarters of the way through the next game, the second-string quarterback was also lost to a season ending injury. However due to tremendous for-sight by team management, the Texans had drafted a rookie quarterback who was ideally suited to run the teams offense and they were able to not only make the playoffs for the first time, but also win the franchises first playoff game.

Your business also needs to expect who will be able to step up and fill key roles within your organization. Hopefully you won't lose anyone to injury, but what about retirement, health issues, turnover and other changes? You can do a better job of determining what talents and skill your current employees have and how they are used in the future. Set up mentoring programs that will transfer the knowledge and experience of your key players to those who have the raw material for future success.

Strong leadership is a vital part of any successful football team. Every successful team has several key "field generals" that keep the team moving in the right direction. In fact, football teams always have a half-dozen or more captains that act as leaders on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. When I think of leaders on the football field, I think of Peyton Manning, Ray Lewis, Dan Marino, Mike Singletary and Warren Moon. Each of these players not only led during games but were notorious for inspiring their teammates to practice harder, study more and give their all in every situation. But never, did anyone ever outwork them. They always led by example.

Your managers and supervisors are the captains in your business. How engaged are they in the success and long-term future of your business? In fact, there are no other positions in your business that will more greatly affect the retention and development of high performing employees than managers and supervisors. People leave people not companies and your internal leaders are key to attracting and retaining the type of employees you need. As we talked earlier about recruiting, even the best recruitment efforts will be destroyed by poor leadership.

Which leads us to our last point. Outstanding football teams have powerful coaches and are constantly teaching and learning. The unexpected success of this years Super Bowl champion New York Giants shouldn't come as much of a surprise as it seems. The Giants head coach Tom Coughlin is one of the game's consummate teachers. He is known as someone who is completely dedicated to his players, helping them learn and develop their skill to their best ability.

How interested in our employees are we as a business owner or executive? Are we consumed with trying to help them improve their skill and ability or just going through the motions? Our key players will know. They'll know if we are truly committed to helping them learn and develop their talents for their good, and the good of the business. Great coaches understand that it has to contain elements of both. Great leaders and managers seek a win/win approach to learning and development.

Like football, business is a team sport. The goal is to do more together than we ever could on our own and leverage the talents of employees for the benefit of customers, owners, and shareholders alike. And like football, when a team comes together in the boardroom everything becomes more fun. Hard work, long hours, pain and suffering all become an enjoyable experience out on the field with a group that you have bonded with and enjoy being with. Wouldn't it be great if every day at work were like that too?

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Web Marketing 101: A Guide to Marketing Your Business on the Internet

If you're looking for a quick guide to online marketing, then let's not waste your time and get right down to the point. Here are some of the more important marketing tools you can use to boost your online presence:

Do You Want to Become an Executive Recruiter?

Or headhunter, as the expression goes? The answer, for me, is that I do. It's the business I plan to start within the next month or so. I even have a website built and a marketing plan nearly completed. But the point of this piece is not to talk about my personal business plans-who cares? The point is to discuss what seem to me some very necessary, but often overlooked, elements that go into a successful search placement for the employer and the hire.

Applecare Vs Squaretrade - May The Best Warranty Win

When buying apple products like macbooks, ipod, or iphones, do you get their Applecare protection program or do you find other warranty alternatives? There are many Applecare alternatives that have been talked about in most forums but one that usually stands out is what they call SquareTrade Warranties. So which one is better? Applecare or SquareTrade?

Arguments are endless whenever you compare two things, two products or two services. It is like pitting two debate teams against each other talking about national issues. One can never be totally satisfied with just one so the trick is to get the one who will give you the better deal. More often than not, the first thing that people check is the price. The price has the biggest impact on the buyer. It will determine whether they will buy the plan or not. If the price difference is not much, then the pros and cons will be taken into consideration.

7 Ways An Aging Workforce Will Affect Human Resources

The number of employees working into their senior years continues to grow for a variety of reasons, with financial need, the failure of private pension plans, and lack of sufficient health benefits being among the most prominent. Older workers typically bring many vital assets to the table, such as solid life experience, better attitudes, work flexibility and an interest in learning new things. However, there are many issues for management to consider when comes to successfully manage an increasingly "graying" workforce. Here are seven of the most common ones:

College Requirements to Become a Pharmacist

If you have made the decision that being a pharmacist is the career path that you want to go on, then you need to find out all the information you can about what you need to start your schooling and get your license to become one. In order to get the education that you need in order to be a pharmaceutical chemist, you need to research on the school, university, or college that you would like to attend. You need to find out the College Requirements To Become A Pharmacist; and if you already possess these qualifications or need to get them.

The education that you need that would qualify as a requirement in order to become a pharmacist would be being very proficient in math, physical sciences, and chemistry. You can either take these types of classes the first years of your college education or you could enter into a pre-pharmacy courses that would already have the types of classes that you need to take in their curriculum.

IM Consultants

Making business plans or strategies for an effective IT business can be the most desirable thing for every successful or aspiring business person across the world. People are making an optimum use of the available resources like soliciting advice of the consultants, who are going to help them in devising their strategies quite effectively. One can just take assistance from the experts to explore the new areas in the business development process and their enhancement. The market is full of such help and one can find a number of consultants who are offering their quality services to all. But the most significant question crops up here that which one will be the right consultant for your business plans. Just to avoid this confusion you need to take experts feedback about the available consultants. Going by the current available trend, the name which is riding high on the people's hope is IM Consultants. The name may appear new to you but the people having keen interest in the latest and authentic solution offering that holds them in high esteem as far as the value is concerned.

NFPA 13 Occupancies for Sprinkler Design

An assortment of building occupancy examples are classified in Sec. A.5.2 of the NFPA 13 Appendix. The following are noted as light hazard occupancies: offices, churches, schools, museums, auditoriums, library seating areas, restaurant seating areas, and unused attics. The maximum sprinkler spacing (protection area) for these is noted in Table 8.6.2.2.1(a) if standard sprinklers are used. Usually, the maximum limit is 225 square feet for light hazard on a hydraulically calculated system. However, when exposed construction is combustible, with structural members spaced less than 3 ft. apart, the maximum coverage limit shrinks to 130 square feet.

Employment Agencies and Online Recruitment

Employment agencies are there for both the employer and the potential candidate. If you have ever made use of the services of a recruiter you will realize how much work actually goes into finding the right job for the right candidate. More often than not the employment agencies can pull it off as they have the right contacts and the sheer drive and determination. Often times, the recruitment company will also serve dedicated clients, giving them a greater understanding of the company ethos and culture, making it easier to place the right kind of person in the right kind of job. For those people too busy to search for recruits and for those would be employees without the resources to search for jobs, employment agencies are the perfect solution.

The Difference Between iPhone Apps and iPad Apps

The iPhone and iPad, as everyone knows, are two highly popular, bestselling gadgets from Apple. The iPhone is a smart phone that can be used to make calls, send text and email messages, read books on, play music and videos, browse the Internet, and many more. The number of applications that can be downloaded and used on the iPhone is only limited by its storage capacity-and the purse of the iPhone owner. Some applications (or "apps" for short) are free, while others cost a certain amount, usually $1 or $2 for the most popular apps. On the other hand, the iPad is a much larger tablet device, which is used mainly for connecting online, reading books, and playing multimedia files. Basically, the iPad can do all the things that the iPhone is capable of, except make calls and send text messages. (There are some iPad apps that do allow the sending of texts, but with certain restrictions.)

MSI Wind U100-432US 10 Inch Netbook - An Honest Review

For those laptop users looking for power, lightweight features and clarity, the MSI Wind u100-432US 10-inch notebook is just the ticket. Its 10-inch screen is clear and great for web browsing, using the power of Intel's newest processing platform. While the screen may be small, it offers full capability for viewing full web pages with a simple click. And while this laptop may be small, its keyboard is only slightly smaller than its full size counterparts, making it easy to use.

Standard with the Windows operating system, this mini laptop offers all of the popular features of its larger counterparts. In addition to typical functionality, this mini laptop offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity features along with a built in microphone and camera, giving users the ability to stay in touch with their friends and family when they are on the go. Users can talk and share pictures from their mini laptop by simply using the already integrated features. Also standard with the LED power saving back-light system, this mini laptop offers the ability to reduce power usage for the user. And, this LED light gives a richer and brighter color palate when browsing.

While the standard model is offered in black, it is also available in other colors. So, for the fashion conscious or computer user looking to add a flair of individuality to their operating system, the option is available. So, while this system may be smaller than its competition, it is no less powerful, offering all of the same features as a full size laptop, just in a smaller size.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of E-Recruiting

Though recruitment is an ongoing process, it needs equal importance whether a new organization is coming up or an existing one requires filling in the vacancies. With the internet becoming a reliable source of mediation, most organizations are opting for e-recruitment or recruitment through the internet. There are many benefits both for the employers and the job hunters.