If you had to compare generations and look at the strengths of each, how would you objectively evaluate each cohort? If you belong to one generation, what would you say are your unique strengths, unmatched by other generations? Or would you think that all generations are in fact the same and there are no real differences?  Let’s find out in this week’s poll.

 Loading ...

The results of this week’s poll are interesting:

• Six out of ten people believe that employees work more if given flex time and the opportunity to work from home
• Over a quarter believe that there is no difference and that employees work the same amount
• A little over one-tenth (13%) feel like employees in fact work less, than if they were obliged to go to the office and fulfil their regular working hours.

One could guess that if employees worked less, Microsoft wouldn’t have created the “Work from Home Day”. As Kate Kalmstrom mentions, there are many benefits, namely:

• Avoid wasting time commuting to and from work
• Better focus on tasks at hand, as an open office can be distracting
• Perhaps an even more cosy and comfortable setting to work in,  again allowing the person to produce more

Surely on the employer side, there is a lot of trust involved, i.e. that your employees will be working. One could assume  that certain employees would abuse the benefits. But in general, so long as employees deliver on projects and meet deadlines, why should it matter when and how they work, right?

Click on infograph below to see results

There is a  lot of talk around how flexible working hours and giving employees the opportunity to work from home is beneficial, or is it really? Let’s see what the common view is in this week’s poll.

 Loading ...

The deadliest sin – knowing zilch about the job or company you’re going to be interviewed by. Seems like a no brainer, but don’t take it for granted – many candidates, unfortunately, don’t come prepared. More than one and a half believe this is the unforgivable gaff, so let’s communicate that to job-seekers.

Don’t be greedy either because too much talk about money is a put off, says nearly every other second person. Why though? Should a candidate be primarily motivated about the job and not the reward, or? If money isn’t a motivator, why should employees, particularly salespeople, strive to make their employer richer? You tell me.

To top that off, signs of fatigue aren’t appreciated either for every third or so person. Yip, for all job candidates, drink plenty of coffee and make sure you have the fight in you. You don’t want to come across as being bored or tired before you’ve even started the job – seems like another no brainer.

Interestingly, candidates don’t have to worry about being overexcited – due to a caffeine overdose – because gesticulating frantically, being overconfident and speaking excessively, doesn’t seem to bother the most of us.

To sum-up the top three abominable mistakes for job-seekers: 1) know zippo about the job or company; 2) obsessive about getting cash, and 3) look like you’re going to fall asleep in your chair by yawning too much!

To see infograph of this week’s poll, click on the image below.

Click on infograph to see mistakes by job-seekers

Here is this week’s poll: the worst things a candidate can do in a job interview. If you would like to see the results of last week’s question on the use of social media, click here. Remember to vote – thank you!

 Loading ...

As Facebook sets the wheels in motion for its IPO, it couldn’t be timelier to ask the question “do employers use social media and do they know what they’re doing?” Nobody can doubt the powers of social media to connect to large, as well as relevant, audiences. And as one expands his/her network, one can also take advantage of the connections of others – the possibilities are endless.

Yet although the principal of the net and social media to expand networks, connections and reach-out to huge audiences is a communication revolution, do we all know what we’re doing? Are we really capitalizing on the potential? Is it all just a fad of various people wanting to be there, because they must, but in the end have no idea if it’s beneficial? In other words, is social media helping you become more successful in attracting, recruiting and retaining staff? Perhaps we should ask that as our next question.

However, from our poll of the week, and as we could predict, the majority of employers are using social medial but still have no idea of what they want, or maybe even of what they’re getting out of it – only time will tell if all of this is just a craze or if Facebook is indeed worth $80bn or more. As the BBC rightly mentioned, it depends on how much we’re all worth, as in the end user, and whether or not we’re all willing to be targeted by more and more advertising – for it to be seen.

Here is a sum-up of this week’s poll. Thanks for your participation!
• Interestingly, the majority of employers are using the channel but still have no idea what they want (65%).
• It’s only a small fraction of companies, over one in ten employers that surprisingly do have a clear strategy and defined goals – perhaps they can be kind enough to advise the other 65%.
• Almost one out of five isn’t present in social media but is planning to be there. Only a small minority of employers (5 %) doesn’t want to and doesn’t see the purpose.

To see the results, click on the infograph below: Is your company actively present in social media for talent attraction purposes?

Hi everybody! We hope you all had a great weekend. Our poll of the week is to see how many of you use social media for your employer branding work.

If you would like to see the results of the previous poll: “Why do your top performers leave?”, click here

Please remember to vote before Friday, as we’ll close the poll and reveal the results then – in advance, thanks for your participation.

 Loading ...

Some interesting results of this week’s poll: Why top performers leave?

1. Career comes first above all else – meaning that top performers like to be challenged, learn new things and develop. One thing to take away with us, keep your top talent by giving them new challenges!

2. “Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man’s world…”
Like the Abba song, everybody would like more money. Top performers, if headhunted, will most likely leave you for a higher paycheck somewhere else – who wouldn’t? Recommendation: keep your culture appealing and give your top performers the challenges they like.

3. Shocker: mismatch of expectations! That’s likely to occur if you over promise on your employer brand and do not deliver. Simple advice: don’t do it!

4. Not everyone is meant to get along – no harm done if your top performer doesn’t like you. If your values are important to you, alas, you’ll have to let that person go.

5. “Should I stay or should I go?” 16% say their top performers stay – good for them!

To see results, click on infograph below: Why Top Performer Leave

Click on infograph to see results

We’re happy to introduce a new category on Employer Branding Today called the “Universum Poll”.  Every week we’ll ask you one question and reveal the results on the Friday. If you would like to submit an idea for a question, feel free to contact us or place a comment below. We hope you enjoy this new feature.

Please find below our first question of the week.

 Loading ...

If you are a career advisor for students, we would appreciate your feedback on the following questions:

 Loading ...

Read the rest of this entry »