How to Activate HR as Your New Marketing Department

How to Activate HR as Your New Marketing Department 40 is the new 30, orange is the new black, and HR is the new marketing. We spoke to  Michael Brenner, CEO of Marketing Insider Group who believes employees represent the greatest opportunity to create meaningful marketing programs. Have a listen to our chat below, keep reading for a summary and dont forget to subscribe to the Employer Branding Podcast. What is the link between content marketing and HR? Theyre inextricably linked. I used the word authentic. I think theres a lot of people who actually get tired of that word because  its starting to lose meaning. But the reason that content marketing in HR is so inextricably linked is  because were all looking for real content experiences, and we want to hear real stories from real people. Employees provide an opportunity to tell those stories. Thats on the one side. On the other side, how do we get that content, those stories in front of other people? And employees represent the greatest opportunity to share those stories with their audiences on both the creation and the distribution side, which are two major components of a content marketing program. You have employees who are in some cases the best creators, and also the best distributors of those stories. What do employees gain from being company marketers? You see it in kids today that are taking selfies and trying to get as many followers as they can on Instagram and Snapchat, its true of professionals as well. We all want to build our personal brands. We maybe dont think about it intentionally but all of us want to have the largest impact on the world that we can. We know that we can do that if we have larger social followings whether thats connections on LinkedIn or friends on Facebook. Whats in it for them is essentially growing your personal brand, making a greater connection and impact in the world, and ultimately find your dream job or move on to another company or whatever that dream may be for each individual employee. Its ultimately about career success for them. There is a possible risk that the employee might leave because their personal brand gets so strong, but I think the benefit outweighs the risk. HR is trying to create talent brands. They want to create companies of people who want to join, want to stay, and want to see it thrive. What were seeing is that theres an inextricable link between the organizations that are encouraging their employees to be authentically telling stories and sharing stories that matter to them, and the companies that people want to be a part of. We all want to work for a company that supports us as a person. So theres  positive feedback cycle that can take place. How can you activate  HR as your new marketing department? It starts from a marketers perspective, with identifying what I call a content marketing mission statement, but when youre talking with other employees all you need to do is just call it a mission statement. And the mission statement has to be very clear and simple. Theres three very simple recipe ingredients to a successful mission. It needs to identify the audience that youre trying to reach, so for companies its anyone who would potentially be interested in the category of stuff that they sell. Number one is who. Number two is what. And number three, is what value does it bring for them? For example, theres a financial services company here, American Express, who is targeting small businesses, and they have this great platform called American Express Open Forum. Their mission statement is to help small business owners grow,  thats the most simple mission statement Ive ever seen, they identified the who, the what, and the value they provide to that audience. So step one, is identify a very clear customer-focused mission. Step two, is you then need to go out and sell it to your employee base Hey, were creating this platform. Its targeting our customer base. But we wont be talking about our products and services, we will be talking about the things these people care about. In American Expresss example it was business growth. Would you like to contribute? Do you have stories? Do you have tips? Every employee inside an organization has some expertise, and if they have a passion for contributing and telling a story then thats part of the pitch. There’s a lot going on in the world right now. How to lead your team with confidence in times of change: https://t.co/8Q0amUtJjj pic.twitter.com/TmZ6wHx53e American Express Business (@AmexBusiness) April 20, 2017 Number one, mission statement. Number two, the activation and the pitch to employees. The third piece is, you have to define whats in it for them. What employees dont want to do is they dont want to pitch promotional messages about products. No employee wants to do that. If you ask employees to tell a story or share what they know on a platform that you own, what you find is the creators inside your organization start to raise their hand, and you can build what I call volunteer army of content creators. What are the pitfalls to avoid when embarking on employer marketing? The biggest one, is that traditional mindset of We need to talk about who we are, what we sell, and why were better. We need to be able to explain (especially to executives who are in higher positions), that not only does it not work anymore, it actually can cause a decrease to the client and the actual end goals that were looking for. But companies, especially in B2B spaces will always need sales people, and salespeople are there to help buyers buy. The days of taking people out for dinners and convincing them to write a cheque are over. The biggest pitfall is convincing executives to stop asking employees to promote the products and services of the companies we work for. The second one is to make sure that you position these requests in the form of value for the employees. Build your network, create greater connections, propel your career in whatever direction that may be. Were here to support you. The power of delivering that message from an organization cant be understated in both the form of employee engagement and employee activation. Its really remarkable when you see companies that do that. What companies are doing it  right? SAP is where I learned this example, I was asked to build a content marketing platform for SAP, and I had no budget. I had a little bit of money that I was allowed to use to create the platform but I had no money to create the content. I started by finding folks around the company that were already writing and contributing on other platforms, and expanded out from there and built essentially this pitch deck that I was using across the organization. It was almost a full-time job for me where I was going out and was saying, You guys have all the knowledge and all the passion that we need, and it can help us to create some impact as an organization. Today the SAP Content Marketing Platform is called Digitalist Mag. It has thousands of contributors, hundreds of SAP employees are writing and really building their own personal brands in the process. I still look to that platform as a great example of success. What is the next big thing for HR and content marketing? In content marketing were talking a lot about influencer marketing right now. In HR, were talking about talent and employee engagement,  and the future of work. These two things will  come together. Youre going to see employee activation and influencer marketing come together and you  will start to see organizations and functions within companies start to direct these programs strategically. Follow Michael on  Twitter @BrennerMichael.

Personal Branding Weekly - Need to Know Who You Know - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Weekly - Need to Know Who You Know - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Somebody You Currently Work with can be a Valuable Connection. This could be a fellow employee if you work for a company or an organization. If youre a solopreneur, it could be anyone that you work with whether it is as a client or not. If you and the front end cashier of dry cleaner serve on a church committee they can bring great referrals to you and be a great source. If you let him/her know exactly what it is I’m looking for and s/he happens to connect with professionals who like to keep up a great image and are very good at presenting themselves, it might be a good fit for you. Often, in organizations and companies, we have employees who have great connections outside of the workplace. They’re either baseball/soccer moms or someone involved in PTA. They might be very involved in junior league or some other activity outside of the office and they know somebody who would be either a great connection, connector or link. We have not spent the time necessary to fully understand who we already have in our network. Especially when we dont see that person as the end user that we would work with. You really never know who someone is, who they will become or who they influence. Look around your office, workplace or organizational meetings, who might you need to get to know better? It never fails when I’m working with an organization, somebody says, “Well, we really need to work with this client.” And then all of a sudden, they find out later, “Well, our receptionist is cousin to so and so that works in that company”. Many times that discovery comes way too late. Be at the forefront connect with someone you currently work with.  [tweet this] Here’s more need to know items to help you manage your personal brand: Showing Respect for Others is Part of Your Personal Brand  by Debra Benton How to Make Your Content (And Yourself!) Go Viral  by Amanda Healy Four Tips for Greater Speech Engagement and Excitement  by Crystal Washington A Surprising Physical Secret Behind Intelligent Thinking  by Nance Rosen Become a Better Public Speaker  by Ceren Cubukcu 3 Keys to Successful Sales  by Elinor Stutz Don’t Make These 5 Common New Entrepreneur Mistakes  by Brian Horn You Would Expect Executives to Know  by Alex Freund Career Success Tips for Women  by Richard Kirby Why I Won’t Respond to Your Voice Mail Messages*  by Skip Freeman Deliver the Bad News for a Great Brand Impression  by Maria Elena Duron Three Words About Your Future: Responsible, Respectful and Realistic  by Jeff Shuey How Your Personal Brand can be More Productive on Social Media  by Susan Gilbert 3 Types of Posts to Avoid on Social Media  by Chamber of Commerce Successful People Have These Four Things in Common  by Beth Kuhel Why Do You Want to Leave Your Current Position?  by Mac Miller How To Land A Telecommuting Job  by Glassdoor.com

Getting Your First Legal Career Job UK vs. US

Getting Your First Legal Career Job UK vs. US After years of university and thousands of pounds in student loans, you’re framing your law school degree. Finally, your legal career is about to take off. Or so you thought. It’s actually much tougher for new lawyers to find jobs than most people realise. Just a few years ago, the Bar Council noted that annually, hundreds of law students in the U.K. graduate without ever having a good chance of entering the legal profession. While roughly 1,600 students take the Bar Professional Training Course in British colleges, only about 450 places at the barristers chambers are available. Its just one indicator of how competitive the legal field is today for new graduates. Is the U.S. Any Better? One of the latest studies from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) puts employment for law school graduates at 91-93% in the U.K. However, that includes students still in school and those that might be working outside the legal field. Every year the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) collects U.S. employment data for the most recent class of law school grads. The class of 2015 had hiring rate of just 86.7%, which is relatively unchanged from the year before and only slightly better than 2013. With an unemployment rate of around 10% on both sides of the Atlantic, new law school grads have to get serious about landing a job well before they take the bar exam. Now is the time to put together a post-graduate, first-year game plan that will help you get hired ASAP. Step 1 Use Every Available Resource Your university fees don’t just pay for classes. Every law school should have specialists who can help you make the transition from college to working in the real world. In the U.S. some even have job placement and internship programmes that can help you get a foot in the door. Here in the UK, there may be alumni associations you can join to network and get more guidance on beginning a career in law. Step 2 Research Where You Want to Live This is a big decision because you’ll have to pass the bar exam wherever you go to practise law in that area. Another important factor is demand for your legal specialties. Some cities or states may have very little need for certain expertise, which can make finding a job near impossible. For example, if criminal defence is your forte, in addition to analysing crime rates and lifestyle statistics, you can research other lawyers to get an idea of an area’s legal needs. For instance, if you live in the U.S. use a niche specific engine like JustLegal to search for Houston criminal defense attorneys and you’ll quickly see that juvenile defenders are a top need. This will also give you a better idea of how much competition there is in a city. In the UK, sites like LegalWeekJobs can offer the same types of results. And More Location Factors . . . If you want to be a divorce lawyer, find out which cities have the highest separation rate. If you want to be an entertainment lawyer you’ll probably need to focus on areas around Los Angeles or New York City in the U.S. and London here in the UK. Choosing the best place to live to jump start your career is a step many new lawyers leave out of their first-year game plan. It’s a mistake that causes many law grads to settle for careers outside of the legal field. The last location consideration to factor into your game plan is pay. Right now law firms are facing a “more-for-less” challenge. Namely, clients want more services at a lower rate. The overabundance of young, eager law school grads is also suppressing wages for new lawyers. First-year lawyers can’t expect to make close to the median salary for attorneys ($118,160 in the U.S. and £35,482 in the UK), but you’ll need to scope out the averages in a specific area. Wages tend to correlate with cost of living, which is something else that has to be considered when you’re deciding where to move for work. Step 3 Identify Your Ideal Law Firm According to a recent NALP survey, firm culture is one of the biggest considerations for new lawyers that are deciding where to send their resume. However, their research also found other interesting statistics. For example, fewer new lawyers were hired at private practices in 2015 than any year since 1996. If you have your mind set on private practice know that the opportunities might be scarce. Knowing what type of environment you want to work in will help you focus your efforts on the best-suited firms and legal entities. Workload and pace should also be a consideration when you’re identifying your ideal law firm. Make a list of the top 3-5 things you’re looking for in a law firm and let that be your job application guide. Keep in mind your first job out of college may not be working as a lawyer.  What’s most important is that you find a firm where you can continue to learn and work towards your career as a legal professional.

The Cheer Checklist - How to Bring the Fun Back to Your Work Function

The Cheer Checklist - How to Bring the Fun Back to Your Work Function Who has attended a lacklustre work function? You know, where theres no vibe, the mood isnt vibrant and its just plain awkward. Either everyones a wallflower, sticking to his or her own little group and not choosing to mingle, or it feels like another sale, whether it’s to a client, guest or the boss. Well, it doesnt have to be. There are ways to bring a relaxed and comfortable setting to the workplace and having a bit more fun without being trashy. So let me help you bring some party to your work function.   Its time to remember that one thing thats in the word “function” is the word “FUN!” A different kind of photo shoot: How many of us have participated in a company-marketing shoot?   You wear your neat attire to show off the business. A beacon of professionalism that displays trust, duty and what the company does. Now, how about for your next function, you use a  photo booth hire?. These can be decked out with red carpets and props, which can make you and your fellow colleagues feel like the star performer you are. Moreover, it can help clients and guests to be involved. This will help to make memories and make them remember your business, linking it to an entertaining experience. Trivia night: A perfect interactive way to entertain your colleagues and guests can be with trivia. Having the company split into teams to gain the most points is a great way to get your workmates to bond and cooperate as a team, helping to find out, in a fun way, in what areas each of you excels.    You could split the teams into those such as Admin vs. Sales. This promotes healthy competition and helps you to understand your overall staff better. Put on a show: If your guests or a client has skills such as dance, cooking or contortion, highlight their talents as part of your function. Its an ideal way to get your guests interested in, and for them to enjoy some of, what is on offer to them. According to Matthew David Hopkins, “Seeing performers up close is always more compelling” This way, you can provide some great entertainment along with an opportune learning experience. Give Gifts: Everyone loves a present! Gifts are a great way to promote your business after a function, particularly with clients or guests. In addition, you can personalise the gifts in a particular giveaway bag.    Business Insider has listed a great array of options you can give clients and employees. Moreover, they go further than the traditional stationery set or the keychain, helping to remind those of the event and the effort made. Learn to Relax: Its meant to be fun right. Yes, we have a business personality, but learn to let yourself breathe. Once the presentations are over, particularly in a leadership role, show off the fun side of your personality. Better yet, it will help your colleagues get into the fun mood as well. According to Amanda Brinkman, a contributor to Forbes. “Ask your colleagues what they think is funand not just senior staff. Ask everyone who works for you.” This helps build trust and allows your co-workers to see you as more approachable. It can also build better wellbeing and morale, creating a better workplace and, as believed, happy staff are productive staff. Now, when it comes to your next work function, think outside the boring box for how you can invest in the fun and create more of a party atmosphere.

5 Qualities of Effective Millennial Leaders - CareerMetis.com

5 Qualities of Effective Millennial Leaders Source -unsplash.comAs millennials approach age 30, more focus on what it takes to be a leader and how to grow their careers in that direction. Older generations label millennials as entitled, tech-absorbed and lazy job hoppers.Research, however, frames millennials in a more positive way, as eco-conscious, community-minded, innovative, empathetic and driven.These qualities empower millennials to get what they want and deserve out of their careers, and they make decisions that inform and guide the direction they desire to grow toward: leadership.evalPerhaps, the generation simply knows what it wants and realizes that life is too short to wait for something that may not come. To older generations, this adds support to the labels of “entitled” and “lazy,” suggesting that millennials aren’t hard workers and should avoid leadership opportunities, which is far from the truth.The Stats Say OtherwiseA survey from GfK and Project: Time Off reveals millennials view themselves as “w ork martyrs” and are the least likely to use their vacation time.43% of work martyrs were millennialscompared to 29 percent of other generations. Interestingly, millennials don’t mind being viewed that way â€" 48 percent of millennials desired this point-of-view from their managers, compared to 39 percent of Gen Xers and 32 percent of Boomers.Millennials are the largest emerging workforce that history has witnessed, and those numbers will powerhouse the business world with75 percent of their work martyr numbers by 2025.That’s around the corner, and both current leaders and millennials need to prepare themselves.Are millennials ready to lead? Mindful nap rooms and adult coloring books don’t set millennials up for leadership ability at first glance, but millennials do desire leadership roles.In fact,91 percent aspire to take charge in a higher positionto empower and guide others.evalHere are 5 qualities that millennials need to make it as a leader, and many already possess the se attributes:1. InnovativeMillennials were the first generation to grow up fully immersed in the Technological Age. They emerged as empowered innovative professionals who spot inefficiency at the drop of a dime and will strive to improve processes that give a better return on investment, respond quicker and take risks to evolve how businesses address changing markets.Growth and change are vital in business, but many companies fear moving beyond what’s worked in the last 20 years.Millennials must be encouraged to step up. When given the opportunity to lead, millennials are in the perfect position to innovate and update organizational and technological systems to do more than keep up.2. Socially ConscientiousevalWhen prompted with the term “socially conscientious,” older generations will likely jump to the mental image of a millennial staring at their social media profiles while another person endures a one-sided, in-person conversation.Social conscientious, in this case, thoug h, means that millennials are community-minded and eco-conscious individuals focused on giving back and making a positive impact.Driven by a sense of purpose, millennials take advantage of corporate volunteer programs. Though they joined the workforce during one of the toughest labor markets in decades,millennials contribute an average of $600 annuallyto causes they care about in the face of personal financial challenges.Millennials also want to work for companies with social responsibility as a part of their mission statement. Case in point,56 percent of millennials chose to work for a companythat expressed dedication to making social impact and giving back.In the long-term, millennial commitment to giving back will instill a sense of purpose and duty in their leadership approach.3. AdaptabilityCompanies admire employees who face challenges and changing environments head on. Millennials grew up in a changing world with booming technology, terrorist attacks and a crashing job and re al estate market during a financial recession.Millennials are a hardy generation prepared to face shifting circumstances with grace and solutions.Unsurprisingly, a connection exists between change and compliance when it comes to people.Culturally, millennials tend toward flexibility, and60 percent identify themselves as adaptablecompared to 40 percent of Gen Xers. Millennials are more likely to adapt their workflow with various tools and responses than mono-tasking older generations.evalAs the economy and job market continue to shift, adaptability is a vital component in a leader. Millennial employees are resilient and flexible in the face of change and challenges.4. DiversityMillennials represent the most diverse workforce, defining themselves with a mix of ideas, experiences, backgrounds and identities instead of focusing solely on demographics.47 %percent of millennials search for diversity and inclusionin the job they accept, such as in decision-making processes, work culture an d policy. The presence and interactivity of each of these factors boost positive work culture, collaboration and profitability.Corporate boards with diverse representation experience a 95 percent increase in equity. Diversity leads to innovation and creativity in business practices.eval5. EntrepreneurialWhile other generations view millennials as job hoppers, millennials see this opportunistic perspective as a positive attribute. They work hard, as the statistics show, but they don’t expect or wait around decades for companies to give back with benefits, promotions and opportunities that never come or are far too late.With large amounts of student debt and the circumstances they grew up in, why should this generation be expected to wait decades for the fruit of their efforts to ripen?Millennials seek out the right fit and advancement opportunities that fulfill their needs in the now, the near future and the long-term. Millennials aren’t saving for retirement, which makes sense g iven current economic circumstances.Instead,63 % of millennials save for financial freedomto live their desired lifestyle, realizing they’ll work longer than prior generations. Only 37 percent of millennials save to leave the workforce.Millennials have what it takes to lead, and many actively seek positions they hope fulfill their needs and provide leadership opportunities. When they don’t, millennials move on.When companies make room for millennials to advance, the returns on investment multiply as these work martyrs demonstrate innovation, socially-conscientious duty, adaptability, diversity and an entrepreneurial spirit.