6 Ways Freelance Writers Can Brand Themselves to Better Profits

You hear it everywhere. You see it on Pinterest, on Facebook and on Twitter. Whats staring you in the face day after day? Branding. What the heck is it and why do freelance writers need it? If youre new to freelance writing and working from home, one thing youll need to start developing early on is your signature brand. Your brand is what will set yourself apart from all other writers in the same niche as you. It starts with who you are and what you want to portray to your online audience. Maybe you are adventuresome so you want to come off as a flexible person who likes to dive into new projects. Or, maybe you are analytical and like to see the big picture before you make a commitment. Your brand also carries across all platforms and remains consistent. And one of the biggest components to your brand is the visual component. This is what people will see and they will learn to associate that with you as a freelance writer. Lets quickly look at some visual representations of different brands from freelance writers before we talk about how to create profitable brands. Writing Revolt Jorden Roper has an awesome visual brand. She has fuchsia colored hair, isnt shy to curse, and has a knack for design and comics. Wanderful World Lizzie Davey is a travel freelance writer and she has an eye for design. To me her brand is built around strong colors and a strong framework. This is a new look for Lizzie, and I like it a lot! Brent Jones Online Brent Jones has got it down when it comes to being consistent with his brand tone. He definitely knows what look he wants to portray – strong and masculine. Okay, so now youve visually seen different brands from freelance writers. So why is this so important in making more money? Your brand conveys a more professional look. Freelance writing is a business and if your website or social media profile looks like its just a hobby, good luck getting paid to write. Your visual brand gives others the impression that you are committed to your business. Many new freelance writers give up before they really give this a try. When you create a solid brand, people quickly realize youre here to stay. Without a clear brand look, youre going to have a hard time commanding a higher rate. Its just that simple. Would you want to pay someone $200 for a blog post with the email address [emailprotected]? Probably not. Clients want to work with other professional freelance writers. Its that simple. If youre struggling   to land high-paying clients, one area you could work on is your brand. Here are six ways you can brand yourself to better paying freelance writing jobs. 1. Your Author Bio For many, your author bio is just a place to feature links to your website or portfolio and explain what you do. But, to stand out and inject some branding into it, create an author bio thats memorable. Lets look at a couple of author bios with a little bit of branding to them: Henneke Duistermaat is an irreverent copywriter and marketer. She’s on a mission to stamp out gobbledygook and to make boring business blogs sparkle. Get her free 16-Part Snackable Writing Course for Busy People and learn how to enchant your readers and win more business. KeriLynn Engel is a copywriter content marketing strategist. She loves working with B2B B2C businesses to plan and create high-quality content that attracts and converts their target audience. When not writing, you can find her reading speculative fiction, watching Star Trek, or playing Telemann flute fantasias at a local open mic. Cherese Cobb was raised in Knoxville, Tenn. A graduate of Maryville College, she has a B.A. in psychology and art. A bibliophile, she considers herself a professional student, as she has an insatiable curiosity. When shes not writing for newspapers, blogs, or magazines, she splits her time between family, poetry, and cat-worship, and uses coffee to survive all three. Each of these examples tells you a bit about who the writer really is. Are they geeky, funny, gentle or kind? There are many prospects that are seeking writers with that certain edge. If you can convey that in your author bio, you can land more clients. 2. Your Headshot Its been proven that showing your face can improve conversions by 95%. Thats how important it is to have a picture of yourself on your website, on social media, and if you want, in your email signature. You have to remember that prospects need to trust you. I mean, they are paying money for your words and thats a big thing for many people. Having a headshot breaks the ice, develops trust and eases prospects minds into giving you their hard earned cash. Wondering what makes a good headshot? Natural light Clean background Appropriate clothing Personable look You dont need a professional to take a photo of you; my husband took my headshot while we were at a park. The point is, instead of hiding behind an avatar or scenic photo for your freelance writing business, use a headshot of you. And dont be afraid to add some personality in your photo. It could be a hairstyle, makeup look, type of clothing you wear or where you decide to take your photo. This will help prospects feel more comfortable in hiring you for a content gig. 3. Your Website Design One of the best tools for your freelance writing business – and one I talk about heavily in my Writeto1k course – is hands down a website. You need to direct prospects somewhere, and a website dedicated to your services is perfect. There are many ways to attract clients with your professional site, but one way is with your brand. Recently I rebranded my services website, Innovative Ink. Since Im still somewhat new to freelance writing – Ive only been doing this since 2014 – Im still trying to find my signature look and I think Ive found it. From the color to the copy to the logo, Ive finally figured out something that converts regularly. Your website can demonstrate: Your credibility as a writer through your portfolio and testimonials Your expert knowledge via your copy and samples Your experience via your client list and guest posts And when you have a brand tied to that   – brand color, logo font, headshot, about page – prospects will get a better picture of who you are and what you can do for them. This translates into a better income for you! Win-win! 4. Your Writing One thing about freelance writing is the ability to write in your voice (unless youre ghostwriting for a client). You may not realize it, but each writer has a certain way of forming sentences, conveying thoughts and the examples used in their writing. For example, I often start my sentences with coordinating conjunctions – and, or, but. I also like to us en dashes rather than em dashes. Finally, I tend to stick to certain sites for references. Since Im in the digital marketing niche, citing examples from Hubspot, Melyssa Griffin, Neil Patel, Mariah Coz, or Kissmetrics is common for me. Even if youre a writer in the digital marketing niche, you may have other sites you refer to based on your preferences and knowledge of this niche. By improving your writing and research skills, over time you will adopt a style of writing that prospects like and seek to find in their writers. 5. Your Social Media Profiles Do you have a Twitter or Facebook account? One way to brand yourself is with your social media profiles. It doesnt have to have your logo or same look as your website, but it does have to have the same tone of your overall brand. Alicia Rades does this well with her Twitter banner. She uses the same color scheme and font on her website to create her social media banner. Since Alicia is a freelance writer and author, this banner says it all! For me, early on I decided to market my product rather than my service for my social media profiles. I may change this later, but for now Im just getting the word out about my course. 6. In Your Visuals Many of these tips have been with visuals. So, what do I mean here? If you have a blog for samples and growing your audience, a great way to infuse your brand is with your blog post images. If you noticed on my blog, Im actually starting to do this for ElnaCain. Before I found a beautiful image and treated each image as separate from my brand. But ever since I started branding Twins Mommy and working hard on a Pinterest strategy, I realized how beneficial branding your images can be. People will immediately recognize your post based on your image Youll develop authority in your niche simply because your branded images look better and are more cohesive Branded images stand out in the Pinterest smart feed While I love playing with script fonts and colors, I have other blogs where I can unleash my creativity. I chose one font, one look and one color for my feature images for this blog. One thing to remember is to always add your URL to your images as this is the number one way to start branding them! To get started with branding your images you can use free image editors like Canva or Picmonkey or invest in getting a Photoshop membership for around $9.99 per month. Learn More About Branding I didnt go into creating your brand or how to develop a vision board for your brand. These are things I learned from other awesome branding bloggers. If you are interested in creating a profitable brand, check out these ladies: Nesha Woolery The Branded Solopreneur Crown Fox She Builds Over to you – if youve developed a brand, tell me how you use it in your freelance writing business!

Challenges of Conducting Interviews

Challenges of Conducting Interviews Introduction Among the most important inputs of any firm is the human capital or labor force, who oversees the whole production process. Labor determines the productivity of a given firm and in some cases, the sales capacity where employees are involved in the marketing process. It is important therefore, to get the right choice of employees in the workforce of the firm and encourage them to perform to their best.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Challenges of Conducting Interviews specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More During job recruiting exercises, it is important that every step is taken carefully to ensure objectivity high standards are applied. However, in many instances human resource managers make various mistakes which may lead to loss of a valuable employee or inclusion into the workforce of the company an employee who is more of a liability than an asset. These mistakes mostly occur during interview process and needs to be identified and addressed accordingly. Human Resource Department Any organization has the human resource department, which is involved with the hiring process and the welfare of the employees while they are working for the organization. It is upon the human resource manager to ensure that the employees that are included in the workforce of the organization are the best qualified in the society (Daly 75). On top of that, employees who are not given the best working conditions tend to reduce their productivity rate hence the human resource managers should ensure that employees are satisfied with how they are treated. With the increase in competition, both locally and globally on the need for qualified employees and for customers, human resource managers must play a central role in ensuring that other than employing the best brains, retention of employees is given emphasis (Daly 98). Human resource managers need to be mentors and coaches of the employees to guide them toward s achieving highest productivity while at the same time they should be able to develop talents amongst the employees (Dale 47). Most importantly, human resource managers have to influence key decision making in an organization as well as being able to propel the organization culture among the employees so as to boost the firm’s output. Job Interview This is a process in which the prospective employee is evaluated by the prospective employer or a mandated party on behalf of the prospective employer to ascertain whether the employee is qualified for the position. In many cases, it comes after the employee has applied for the position in question, and the interview panel or person therefore has some clue about the identity of the interviewee (Billsberry 58). Interview is the main tool of choosing the best employee and requires immense resource investment from the employer. Interviews can range from one session to several sessions depending on the importance of the position being interviewed for to the organization and the kind of a person being sort for (Jenkins 110). Contrary to the notion that interview always helps in identifying the best qualified candidate, there have been many situations where this has not been the case hence bringing in a point of unreliability.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is due to various inadequacies of the interviewing party on carrying out their job leading to loss of absolute due diligence (Yeung 103). It is rather difficult to identify the talents of an individual or how to maximally tap the potential of a person during interview given that the environment itself is tense and it is difficult to know a person’s true picture. In order to evaluate the interviewee interview, question need to test on mental ability, personal character, experience, interests and ability to be ingenious (Lussier 241 ). Challenges Faced During Interviews Many of us think that interview is challenging to the interviewee because this is the person who is going to be the subject during the whole process, but on the contrary even the interviewers are faced with the dilemma of determining the right way of conducting the interview (Lussier 233). The interviewer is faced with the task of employing the best talent from the whole lot of people who will attend the interview and should therefore strategize a way of evaluating who is best qualified candidate. They are expected to be as objective as possible and at the same time to be fair to all people and conduct the exercise in a manner that put the interests of the organizations first (Billsberry 60). The Right Question Dilemma Determining the type of questions that should be asked during the interview process is the first nightmare that faces the human resource managers since they have to ensure that only the right questions are asked. The kind of quest ions needs to be as simple as possible, while they also need to bring out the required response which will enable the interviewer to evaluate the candidate accordingly (Dale 165). The human resource managers also find themselves asking questions that dwell too much on the private life of the candidates which sometimes makes the candidate feel embarrassed. Too brief questions also tend to obscure useful information that could have been depicted later on and most human resource managers are faced with the dilemma of determining the right length of questions to be asked (Yeung 55). In conjunction with that, the human resource managers mostly do not know how to get information of how the employee will perform under pressure without stressing the candidate during the interview process (Jenkins 189). Often, human resource managers in a move not to look too stringent to candidates do not know how to ask some questions which seem to be tough therefore compromising the recruiting process. Il legal Questions The most challenging part of preparing for an interview by the human resource manager is perhaps avoiding of asking illegal questions. The reputation of the organization lies at stake if the interviewers are unable to structure questions in a manner that would not seem illegal (Dale 157). Wording of a question can make a genuine question turn illegal hence the language used should be given emphasis to ensure it does not distort the meaning of the questions.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Challenges of Conducting Interviews specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Some types of questions are also illegal by their nature or by the nature of the answers they require the candidate to provide (Brisciana 28). To some extent, what is important to be known to the organization when asked in a certain way is illegal for example age. Being gender insensitive or biased, concentrating too much on the privacy of individu al and asking questions which seem to be cultural based is also illegal. Stereotyping Due to so circumstances preceding the interview process sometimes the human resource managers can make prejudged assumptions about an individual concerning the ability or even experience about the job (Yeung 93). If an employee is coming from an organization which is considered successful, there is a tendency of assuming that the candidate must be experienced and hence qualified for the job. Sometimes, the answers received to first questions tend to instigate stereotyping in the minds of the human resource managers to prejudge the candidate as either a failure or successful person. Stereotyping also manifests itself when the human resource managers end up using one interviewee as a cornerstone to evaluate another one who comes after. There is also a possibility of some human resource managers having negative attitude towards a certain group of people due to their gender, academic status and cultura l background among other factors (Jenkins 193). It then becomes a challenge for the same person to be fair to any candidate who happens to fall in the group they stereotype hence not being able to actually recruit the best talent. It should be noted that, stereotyping compromises the ability of an interviewer to objective during the interview process which in turn jeopardizes the possibility of getting the best candidate. Prior experience with a certain person or group of people mostly leads to stereotyping (Daly 56). However, stereotyping is not a personal problem as it has been shown by recent researchers but rather a common thing among human beings. Since it is difficult to understand peculiarities associated with different people grouping and categorizing is inevitable and this leads to stereotyping. Recommendations The first thing that should be avoided during interview process is to avoid questions that give the candidate a hint of what is being sort for. These questions will not only make the candidate aware of the answer that is best suited to earn him/her the job, but will not earn the interviewer an honest answer.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Questions that put too much pressure on the candidate will frustrate the interviewee and generate a bad employer employee relationship incase the same person is employed in the organization (Dale 45). On the same note, it is not practically possible to create the same kind of difficult situations that the employee will face in the real work environment during the interview process. Therefore, friendly but trick questions which test the ability of the employee to solve complex situations are very helpful. Interviewers are also advised to ask challenging questions without discrimination to everyone who attends the interview so as to be able to determine who is best qualified. Research has shown that even those interviewees who seem to be nervous from the onset can turn out to be the best employees when given a challenging situation to tackle (Brisciana 53). Questions that will make the candidates give answers that have much of â€Å"maybes† are not fit because they may not be a ssessing the candidates adequately. Furthermore, Questions that ask the candidate too much about the current employer or worse which want to show what a bad employer the candidate is currently working for compromise the reputation of the organization. These questions also waste the rime that could have been used to do other parts of the interview. Therefore, questions must be tailored at bringing out the potential, ability, qualifications and talent of the employee in a friendly but strictly professional environment. Appertaining illegal questions, Gender sensitivity is very vital during the interview exercise therefore, questions which tend to sexually discriminating should be avoided. For example, asking a female candidate whether she will be able to work with male employees is illegal as it discriminates women (Billsberry 73). Questions that may require the candidate to name his / her nationality or ethnic background should be avoided as they go against the employment law that re quires one to be employed on the basis of qualifications and not ethnicity. On the other hand, though it is important to have enough background information about the candidate, privacy should be respected and therefore questions that require answers that have to do with financial status, family background and age should be avoided. Though age is important, outright asking the candidate to state the age is illegal, this information can be found from official documents that the candidate will present. Due to the wide spread effect of stereotyping, group interviewing is paramount as only the average is done and is quite difficult for many people to look at the same people negatively (Lussier 289). Answers to the first questions should not distract the interviewer’s attention on how subsequent questions are answered since most people will be able to answer first questions superbly but fail to meet the threshold for the later questions. It also helps to evaluate each individual pe rsonally and not as per another person because if the person used as a guide was not qualified then slightly improved case will look like a genius when in reality both of them do not meet the desired minimum. The set of questions to be asked should be prepared before the interview process is commenced and should be done with someone who is not aware of who the interviewees are or will be. Every interviewee should be asked the same set of questions including the tough and challenging questions without discrimination this will amaze on what they reveal concerning the interviewees (Yeung 78). An interviewer who is aware of the stereotype he/she has towards a certain category of people should avoid taking the section that will require him/her interview on the same section. Conclusion Other factors of production are assembled and controlled by the employees present in the organization. The more the qualified and experienced labor force is present in the firm, the higher the rate of produ ctivity hence the need to maintain experienced workforce while at the same time ensuring that the best talented are recruited. Recruiting the wrong people may impact negatively on the organizational culture, productivity and returns hence the great care should be accorded the recruitment process. Billsberry, Jon. Experiencing Recruitment and Selection. Hoboken, NJ: John Willey and Sons, 2008. Print. Brisciana, Michael. Safe and Effective Faculty Recruitment, Retention, and Dismissal Practices: A ISM Handbook for Private-Independent Schools. Wilmington: Independent School Manageme, 2008. Print. Dale, Margaret. Managers Guide to Recruitment and Selection. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2004. Print. Daly, John. Human Resource Management in the Public Sector: Policies and Practices. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2011. Print. Jenkins, Richard. Racism and Recruitment: Managers, Organizations and Equal Opportunity in the Labour Market. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print. Lussier, Robert N. Management Fundamentals: Concept Applications and Skills Development. Manson: South-Western, 2011. Print. Yeung, Rob. Successful Interviewing and Recruitment. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2008. Print.

Challenges of Conducting Interviews

Challenges of Conducting Interviews Introduction Among the most important inputs of any firm is the human capital or labor force, who oversees the whole production process. Labor determines the productivity of a given firm and in some cases, the sales capacity where employees are involved in the marketing process. It is important therefore, to get the right choice of employees in the workforce of the firm and encourage them to perform to their best.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Challenges of Conducting Interviews specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More During job recruiting exercises, it is important that every step is taken carefully to ensure objectivity high standards are applied. However, in many instances human resource managers make various mistakes which may lead to loss of a valuable employee or inclusion into the workforce of the company an employee who is more of a liability than an asset. These mistakes mostly occur during interview process and needs to be identified and addressed accordingly. Human Resource Department Any organization has the human resource department, which is involved with the hiring process and the welfare of the employees while they are working for the organization. It is upon the human resource manager to ensure that the employees that are included in the workforce of the organization are the best qualified in the society (Daly 75). On top of that, employees who are not given the best working conditions tend to reduce their productivity rate hence the human resource managers should ensure that employees are satisfied with how they are treated. With the increase in competition, both locally and globally on the need for qualified employees and for customers, human resource managers must play a central role in ensuring that other than employing the best brains, retention of employees is given emphasis (Daly 98). Human resource managers need to be mentors and coaches of the employees to guide them toward s achieving highest productivity while at the same time they should be able to develop talents amongst the employees (Dale 47). Most importantly, human resource managers have to influence key decision making in an organization as well as being able to propel the organization culture among the employees so as to boost the firm’s output. Job Interview This is a process in which the prospective employee is evaluated by the prospective employer or a mandated party on behalf of the prospective employer to ascertain whether the employee is qualified for the position. In many cases, it comes after the employee has applied for the position in question, and the interview panel or person therefore has some clue about the identity of the interviewee (Billsberry 58). Interview is the main tool of choosing the best employee and requires immense resource investment from the employer. Interviews can range from one session to several sessions depending on the importance of the position being interviewed for to the organization and the kind of a person being sort for (Jenkins 110). Contrary to the notion that interview always helps in identifying the best qualified candidate, there have been many situations where this has not been the case hence bringing in a point of unreliability.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is due to various inadequacies of the interviewing party on carrying out their job leading to loss of absolute due diligence (Yeung 103). It is rather difficult to identify the talents of an individual or how to maximally tap the potential of a person during interview given that the environment itself is tense and it is difficult to know a person’s true picture. In order to evaluate the interviewee interview, question need to test on mental ability, personal character, experience, interests and ability to be ingenious (Lussier 241 ). Challenges Faced During Interviews Many of us think that interview is challenging to the interviewee because this is the person who is going to be the subject during the whole process, but on the contrary even the interviewers are faced with the dilemma of determining the right way of conducting the interview (Lussier 233). The interviewer is faced with the task of employing the best talent from the whole lot of people who will attend the interview and should therefore strategize a way of evaluating who is best qualified candidate. They are expected to be as objective as possible and at the same time to be fair to all people and conduct the exercise in a manner that put the interests of the organizations first (Billsberry 60). The Right Question Dilemma Determining the type of questions that should be asked during the interview process is the first nightmare that faces the human resource managers since they have to ensure that only the right questions are asked. The kind of quest ions needs to be as simple as possible, while they also need to bring out the required response which will enable the interviewer to evaluate the candidate accordingly (Dale 165). The human resource managers also find themselves asking questions that dwell too much on the private life of the candidates which sometimes makes the candidate feel embarrassed. Too brief questions also tend to obscure useful information that could have been depicted later on and most human resource managers are faced with the dilemma of determining the right length of questions to be asked (Yeung 55). In conjunction with that, the human resource managers mostly do not know how to get information of how the employee will perform under pressure without stressing the candidate during the interview process (Jenkins 189). Often, human resource managers in a move not to look too stringent to candidates do not know how to ask some questions which seem to be tough therefore compromising the recruiting process. Il legal Questions The most challenging part of preparing for an interview by the human resource manager is perhaps avoiding of asking illegal questions. The reputation of the organization lies at stake if the interviewers are unable to structure questions in a manner that would not seem illegal (Dale 157). Wording of a question can make a genuine question turn illegal hence the language used should be given emphasis to ensure it does not distort the meaning of the questions.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Challenges of Conducting Interviews specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Some types of questions are also illegal by their nature or by the nature of the answers they require the candidate to provide (Brisciana 28). To some extent, what is important to be known to the organization when asked in a certain way is illegal for example age. Being gender insensitive or biased, concentrating too much on the privacy of individu al and asking questions which seem to be cultural based is also illegal. Stereotyping Due to so circumstances preceding the interview process sometimes the human resource managers can make prejudged assumptions about an individual concerning the ability or even experience about the job (Yeung 93). If an employee is coming from an organization which is considered successful, there is a tendency of assuming that the candidate must be experienced and hence qualified for the job. Sometimes, the answers received to first questions tend to instigate stereotyping in the minds of the human resource managers to prejudge the candidate as either a failure or successful person. Stereotyping also manifests itself when the human resource managers end up using one interviewee as a cornerstone to evaluate another one who comes after. There is also a possibility of some human resource managers having negative attitude towards a certain group of people due to their gender, academic status and cultura l background among other factors (Jenkins 193). It then becomes a challenge for the same person to be fair to any candidate who happens to fall in the group they stereotype hence not being able to actually recruit the best talent. It should be noted that, stereotyping compromises the ability of an interviewer to objective during the interview process which in turn jeopardizes the possibility of getting the best candidate. Prior experience with a certain person or group of people mostly leads to stereotyping (Daly 56). However, stereotyping is not a personal problem as it has been shown by recent researchers but rather a common thing among human beings. Since it is difficult to understand peculiarities associated with different people grouping and categorizing is inevitable and this leads to stereotyping. Recommendations The first thing that should be avoided during interview process is to avoid questions that give the candidate a hint of what is being sort for. These questions will not only make the candidate aware of the answer that is best suited to earn him/her the job, but will not earn the interviewer an honest answer.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Questions that put too much pressure on the candidate will frustrate the interviewee and generate a bad employer employee relationship incase the same person is employed in the organization (Dale 45). On the same note, it is not practically possible to create the same kind of difficult situations that the employee will face in the real work environment during the interview process. Therefore, friendly but trick questions which test the ability of the employee to solve complex situations are very helpful. Interviewers are also advised to ask challenging questions without discrimination to everyone who attends the interview so as to be able to determine who is best qualified. Research has shown that even those interviewees who seem to be nervous from the onset can turn out to be the best employees when given a challenging situation to tackle (Brisciana 53). Questions that will make the candidates give answers that have much of â€Å"maybes† are not fit because they may not be a ssessing the candidates adequately. Furthermore, Questions that ask the candidate too much about the current employer or worse which want to show what a bad employer the candidate is currently working for compromise the reputation of the organization. These questions also waste the rime that could have been used to do other parts of the interview. Therefore, questions must be tailored at bringing out the potential, ability, qualifications and talent of the employee in a friendly but strictly professional environment. Appertaining illegal questions, Gender sensitivity is very vital during the interview exercise therefore, questions which tend to sexually discriminating should be avoided. For example, asking a female candidate whether she will be able to work with male employees is illegal as it discriminates women (Billsberry 73). Questions that may require the candidate to name his / her nationality or ethnic background should be avoided as they go against the employment law that re quires one to be employed on the basis of qualifications and not ethnicity. On the other hand, though it is important to have enough background information about the candidate, privacy should be respected and therefore questions that require answers that have to do with financial status, family background and age should be avoided. Though age is important, outright asking the candidate to state the age is illegal, this information can be found from official documents that the candidate will present. Due to the wide spread effect of stereotyping, group interviewing is paramount as only the average is done and is quite difficult for many people to look at the same people negatively (Lussier 289). Answers to the first questions should not distract the interviewer’s attention on how subsequent questions are answered since most people will be able to answer first questions superbly but fail to meet the threshold for the later questions. It also helps to evaluate each individual pe rsonally and not as per another person because if the person used as a guide was not qualified then slightly improved case will look like a genius when in reality both of them do not meet the desired minimum. The set of questions to be asked should be prepared before the interview process is commenced and should be done with someone who is not aware of who the interviewees are or will be. Every interviewee should be asked the same set of questions including the tough and challenging questions without discrimination this will amaze on what they reveal concerning the interviewees (Yeung 78). An interviewer who is aware of the stereotype he/she has towards a certain category of people should avoid taking the section that will require him/her interview on the same section. Conclusion Other factors of production are assembled and controlled by the employees present in the organization. The more the qualified and experienced labor force is present in the firm, the higher the rate of produ ctivity hence the need to maintain experienced workforce while at the same time ensuring that the best talented are recruited. Recruiting the wrong people may impact negatively on the organizational culture, productivity and returns hence the great care should be accorded the recruitment process. Billsberry, Jon. Experiencing Recruitment and Selection. Hoboken, NJ: John Willey and Sons, 2008. Print. Brisciana, Michael. Safe and Effective Faculty Recruitment, Retention, and Dismissal Practices: A ISM Handbook for Private-Independent Schools. Wilmington: Independent School Manageme, 2008. Print. Dale, Margaret. Managers Guide to Recruitment and Selection. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2004. Print. Daly, John. Human Resource Management in the Public Sector: Policies and Practices. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2011. Print. Jenkins, Richard. Racism and Recruitment: Managers, Organizations and Equal Opportunity in the Labour Market. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print. Lussier, Robert N. Management Fundamentals: Concept Applications and Skills Development. Manson: South-Western, 2011. Print. Yeung, Rob. Successful Interviewing and Recruitment. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2008. Print.

Challenges of Conducting Interviews

Challenges of Conducting Interviews Introduction Among the most important inputs of any firm is the human capital or labor force, who oversees the whole production process. Labor determines the productivity of a given firm and in some cases, the sales capacity where employees are involved in the marketing process. It is important therefore, to get the right choice of employees in the workforce of the firm and encourage them to perform to their best.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Challenges of Conducting Interviews specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More During job recruiting exercises, it is important that every step is taken carefully to ensure objectivity high standards are applied. However, in many instances human resource managers make various mistakes which may lead to loss of a valuable employee or inclusion into the workforce of the company an employee who is more of a liability than an asset. These mistakes mostly occur during interview process and needs to be identified and addressed accordingly. Human Resource Department Any organization has the human resource department, which is involved with the hiring process and the welfare of the employees while they are working for the organization. It is upon the human resource manager to ensure that the employees that are included in the workforce of the organization are the best qualified in the society (Daly 75). On top of that, employees who are not given the best working conditions tend to reduce their productivity rate hence the human resource managers should ensure that employees are satisfied with how they are treated. With the increase in competition, both locally and globally on the need for qualified employees and for customers, human resource managers must play a central role in ensuring that other than employing the best brains, retention of employees is given emphasis (Daly 98). Human resource managers need to be mentors and coaches of the employees to guide them toward s achieving highest productivity while at the same time they should be able to develop talents amongst the employees (Dale 47). Most importantly, human resource managers have to influence key decision making in an organization as well as being able to propel the organization culture among the employees so as to boost the firm’s output. Job Interview This is a process in which the prospective employee is evaluated by the prospective employer or a mandated party on behalf of the prospective employer to ascertain whether the employee is qualified for the position. In many cases, it comes after the employee has applied for the position in question, and the interview panel or person therefore has some clue about the identity of the interviewee (Billsberry 58). Interview is the main tool of choosing the best employee and requires immense resource investment from the employer. Interviews can range from one session to several sessions depending on the importance of the position being interviewed for to the organization and the kind of a person being sort for (Jenkins 110). Contrary to the notion that interview always helps in identifying the best qualified candidate, there have been many situations where this has not been the case hence bringing in a point of unreliability.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is due to various inadequacies of the interviewing party on carrying out their job leading to loss of absolute due diligence (Yeung 103). It is rather difficult to identify the talents of an individual or how to maximally tap the potential of a person during interview given that the environment itself is tense and it is difficult to know a person’s true picture. In order to evaluate the interviewee interview, question need to test on mental ability, personal character, experience, interests and ability to be ingenious (Lussier 241 ). Challenges Faced During Interviews Many of us think that interview is challenging to the interviewee because this is the person who is going to be the subject during the whole process, but on the contrary even the interviewers are faced with the dilemma of determining the right way of conducting the interview (Lussier 233). The interviewer is faced with the task of employing the best talent from the whole lot of people who will attend the interview and should therefore strategize a way of evaluating who is best qualified candidate. They are expected to be as objective as possible and at the same time to be fair to all people and conduct the exercise in a manner that put the interests of the organizations first (Billsberry 60). The Right Question Dilemma Determining the type of questions that should be asked during the interview process is the first nightmare that faces the human resource managers since they have to ensure that only the right questions are asked. The kind of quest ions needs to be as simple as possible, while they also need to bring out the required response which will enable the interviewer to evaluate the candidate accordingly (Dale 165). The human resource managers also find themselves asking questions that dwell too much on the private life of the candidates which sometimes makes the candidate feel embarrassed. Too brief questions also tend to obscure useful information that could have been depicted later on and most human resource managers are faced with the dilemma of determining the right length of questions to be asked (Yeung 55). In conjunction with that, the human resource managers mostly do not know how to get information of how the employee will perform under pressure without stressing the candidate during the interview process (Jenkins 189). Often, human resource managers in a move not to look too stringent to candidates do not know how to ask some questions which seem to be tough therefore compromising the recruiting process. Il legal Questions The most challenging part of preparing for an interview by the human resource manager is perhaps avoiding of asking illegal questions. The reputation of the organization lies at stake if the interviewers are unable to structure questions in a manner that would not seem illegal (Dale 157). Wording of a question can make a genuine question turn illegal hence the language used should be given emphasis to ensure it does not distort the meaning of the questions.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Challenges of Conducting Interviews specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Some types of questions are also illegal by their nature or by the nature of the answers they require the candidate to provide (Brisciana 28). To some extent, what is important to be known to the organization when asked in a certain way is illegal for example age. Being gender insensitive or biased, concentrating too much on the privacy of individu al and asking questions which seem to be cultural based is also illegal. Stereotyping Due to so circumstances preceding the interview process sometimes the human resource managers can make prejudged assumptions about an individual concerning the ability or even experience about the job (Yeung 93). If an employee is coming from an organization which is considered successful, there is a tendency of assuming that the candidate must be experienced and hence qualified for the job. Sometimes, the answers received to first questions tend to instigate stereotyping in the minds of the human resource managers to prejudge the candidate as either a failure or successful person. Stereotyping also manifests itself when the human resource managers end up using one interviewee as a cornerstone to evaluate another one who comes after. There is also a possibility of some human resource managers having negative attitude towards a certain group of people due to their gender, academic status and cultura l background among other factors (Jenkins 193). It then becomes a challenge for the same person to be fair to any candidate who happens to fall in the group they stereotype hence not being able to actually recruit the best talent. It should be noted that, stereotyping compromises the ability of an interviewer to objective during the interview process which in turn jeopardizes the possibility of getting the best candidate. Prior experience with a certain person or group of people mostly leads to stereotyping (Daly 56). However, stereotyping is not a personal problem as it has been shown by recent researchers but rather a common thing among human beings. Since it is difficult to understand peculiarities associated with different people grouping and categorizing is inevitable and this leads to stereotyping. Recommendations The first thing that should be avoided during interview process is to avoid questions that give the candidate a hint of what is being sort for. These questions will not only make the candidate aware of the answer that is best suited to earn him/her the job, but will not earn the interviewer an honest answer.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Questions that put too much pressure on the candidate will frustrate the interviewee and generate a bad employer employee relationship incase the same person is employed in the organization (Dale 45). On the same note, it is not practically possible to create the same kind of difficult situations that the employee will face in the real work environment during the interview process. Therefore, friendly but trick questions which test the ability of the employee to solve complex situations are very helpful. Interviewers are also advised to ask challenging questions without discrimination to everyone who attends the interview so as to be able to determine who is best qualified. Research has shown that even those interviewees who seem to be nervous from the onset can turn out to be the best employees when given a challenging situation to tackle (Brisciana 53). Questions that will make the candidates give answers that have much of â€Å"maybes† are not fit because they may not be a ssessing the candidates adequately. Furthermore, Questions that ask the candidate too much about the current employer or worse which want to show what a bad employer the candidate is currently working for compromise the reputation of the organization. These questions also waste the rime that could have been used to do other parts of the interview. Therefore, questions must be tailored at bringing out the potential, ability, qualifications and talent of the employee in a friendly but strictly professional environment. Appertaining illegal questions, Gender sensitivity is very vital during the interview exercise therefore, questions which tend to sexually discriminating should be avoided. For example, asking a female candidate whether she will be able to work with male employees is illegal as it discriminates women (Billsberry 73). Questions that may require the candidate to name his / her nationality or ethnic background should be avoided as they go against the employment law that re quires one to be employed on the basis of qualifications and not ethnicity. On the other hand, though it is important to have enough background information about the candidate, privacy should be respected and therefore questions that require answers that have to do with financial status, family background and age should be avoided. Though age is important, outright asking the candidate to state the age is illegal, this information can be found from official documents that the candidate will present. Due to the wide spread effect of stereotyping, group interviewing is paramount as only the average is done and is quite difficult for many people to look at the same people negatively (Lussier 289). Answers to the first questions should not distract the interviewer’s attention on how subsequent questions are answered since most people will be able to answer first questions superbly but fail to meet the threshold for the later questions. It also helps to evaluate each individual pe rsonally and not as per another person because if the person used as a guide was not qualified then slightly improved case will look like a genius when in reality both of them do not meet the desired minimum. The set of questions to be asked should be prepared before the interview process is commenced and should be done with someone who is not aware of who the interviewees are or will be. Every interviewee should be asked the same set of questions including the tough and challenging questions without discrimination this will amaze on what they reveal concerning the interviewees (Yeung 78). An interviewer who is aware of the stereotype he/she has towards a certain category of people should avoid taking the section that will require him/her interview on the same section. Conclusion Other factors of production are assembled and controlled by the employees present in the organization. The more the qualified and experienced labor force is present in the firm, the higher the rate of produ ctivity hence the need to maintain experienced workforce while at the same time ensuring that the best talented are recruited. Recruiting the wrong people may impact negatively on the organizational culture, productivity and returns hence the great care should be accorded the recruitment process. Billsberry, Jon. Experiencing Recruitment and Selection. Hoboken, NJ: John Willey and Sons, 2008. Print. Brisciana, Michael. Safe and Effective Faculty Recruitment, Retention, and Dismissal Practices: A ISM Handbook for Private-Independent Schools. Wilmington: Independent School Manageme, 2008. Print. Dale, Margaret. Managers Guide to Recruitment and Selection. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2004. Print. Daly, John. Human Resource Management in the Public Sector: Policies and Practices. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2011. Print. Jenkins, Richard. Racism and Recruitment: Managers, Organizations and Equal Opportunity in the Labour Market. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print. Lussier, Robert N. Management Fundamentals: Concept Applications and Skills Development. Manson: South-Western, 2011. Print. Yeung, Rob. Successful Interviewing and Recruitment. London: Kogan Page Publishers, 2008. Print.

Produce a 1,500 word account, in report format, of an observed Assignment

Produce a 1,500 word account, in report format, of an observed positive behavioural change - Assignment Example There can be many factors and aspects in humans’ life which can reduce the contentment and happiness. To overcome such factors and regain therapeutic life is the basic aim of positive psychology. (wisegeek, 2011) MY BEHAVIOR CHANGE TARGET: After my self-assessment, the change I chose for my positive wellbeing is to get rid of caffeine addiction. At first the caffeine addiction didn't look like to have a link with mood and behavior in general to most of people; but being a caffeine addict I have faced many mood swings which eventually affect my wellbeing and efficient functioning in daily routine. The reason to get rid of caffeine and taking it as a positive behavior change is that in recent past I have realized that this addition is not only effecting my daily routine but is also effecting my health. Caffeine addiction has made me completely dependent over it due to which If I don’t get caffeine intake I experience many unpleasant challenges. The main reasons for gettin g rid of addiction are that I already have hectic and stressful life routine, I don’t get average amount of sleep which had become worse with the regular intake of caffeine. And whenever I tried to quit caffeine intake I felt extreme headache n nausea which led me to grab caffeine again. Adrenal gland main function is to regulate our hormones controlling the body reaction towards stress which help human to cope the stress physically and mentally. When people take caffeine it produces hormones artificially which led to unnatural alertness. After prolonged use of caffeine the adrenal gland functions depletes which affects human normal body functioning leading to psychological and physical problems. (ehow, 2011) The other researches which I came across about caffeine addiction are also related to its effect on human gland and mood swings. According to Stephen Cherniske research â€Å"caffeine blues† the intake of caffeine immediately stimulates the central nervous system of human, which triggers stress hormones in the body and leads to fight or flight response; causing stress. The fight or flight response is useful when u have to deal immediate with a dangerous situation but when this feeling of alertness and agitation come up very with every intake of caffeine, then when the effect of caffeine will go the person will feel more tired and low in energy because his body is used to of excessive alertness. And this is why caffeine is also considered an addiction. Because when the effect of caffeine fades away the person starts to feel tired and again look for caffeine intake and the circle goes on. And this not only makes u addict but also makes the body and mind tired as it becomes drained by constant ups and downs in body energy level. (Natural News Network , 2011) GOAL SETTING: I have aimed to get rid of my caffeine addiction. If I will succeed I will be able to sleep more and peacefully which is very important to work properly when you are awake. I will be able to have a sound sleep which was previously very disturbed and short because of excessive caffeine intake. My behavior will become more constant which will lead me to do my work efficiently and calmly. Plus I will be able to enjoy life more as now I most of time feel agitated and anxious. So the outcome of my goal setting includes these points: 1. Would be able to do my work properly and calmly

Child Labour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Child Labour - Essay Example the action is beneficial to everyone, the egoism theory states that morally right actions are those whose outcome maximises benefits to the person performing them. And finally the Altruism theory states that an action is considered morally right if the outcome of the action is favourable to every person except the person performing the action.4 According to utilitarian theory child labour is morally wrong in that it does not beneficial to everyone, the children suffer and in some cases they are not paid, further these children should be attending school or performing school related duties other than working, there is a need to educate and train these children in order to prepare them for the job market and employing them before they complete their education will mean that this is violating their rights. An example is the India gap kid clothing company where according to the UK reporters there was beating of children in the industry and further children were not paid for their work, child labour, the employers take advantage that children punishment is allowed in many countries and because children are not aware of their rights they are forced to undertake hard work.5 Employers prefer to employ children because they provide cheap labour and also they are easy to control, children are also seen to be more obedient than adults, they therefore employ the children for the purpose of cutting down costs and also because the children are easy to control than the adults because adults are related with initiatives which include protests and formation of trade union. The employers benefit in this case and this is in line with the Altruism theory states that an action is considered morally right if the outcome of the action is favourable to every person except the person... This paper stresses that employers prefer to employ children because they provide cheap labour and also they are easy to control, children are also seen to be more obedient than adults, they therefore employ the children for the purpose of cutting down costs and also because the children are easy to control than the adults because adults are related with initiatives which include protests and formation of trade union. The employers benefit in this case and this is in line with the Altruism theory states that an action is considered morally right if the outcome of the action is favourable to every person except the person performing the action. This report makes a conclusion that the theories of normative ethics do not support child labour, for this reason therefore there should be an increased effort to ban child labour in the whole world because it is not morally right, in most cases children are not paid for their work and are disciplined for not working hard, the employers know that they can pay less for employing children and also that children are obedient than adults and for this reason they will employ children, the employers therefore avoid trade unions and protests from workers in case they exploit their workers, for this reason therefore no child should be allowed to work and this will stop exploitation of children worldwide. In developing countries where children work to support their families the government should come up with policy measures to improve employment and standards of living, this will result into a reduction of child labour in most countries and a healthy working labour force will be evident in fu ture.

New Zealand’s National Drug Policy (2007-2012) Analysis

New Zealand’s National Drug Policy (2007-2012) Analysis This research question requires you to read the provided case study on New Zealand’s National Drug Policy (2007-2012). Analyse and assess the strengths and weaknesses of this policy In your analysis, you are to consider the following guided questions: What is the present policy? -the present policy talks about the National Drug Policy 2007-2012. This policy discusses how the government implements methods and strategies in the control of alcohol, tobacco and drug use in a unanimous structure thru the New Zealand context. How, when, and why did the policy come into being? -According to the Methodology Report for the year 2007/08 New Zealand Alcohol and Drug Use Survey, an integrated programme of household surveys and group studies has been conducted by the Health and Disability Intelligence of the Ministry of Health. Thus, this is where the formulation of the policy has been based. This survey has also been considered a sequel of the previous ones dated years 1995, 2000 and 2004 for alcohol and drug use in the years 1998, 2001, and 2003. Furthermore, aside from the fact that the survey was the foundation for the latest national policy, it also answered the stipulated objectives which include the identification of alcohol, illicit and drug use for frivolous reasons in New Zealand; quantity and frequency of use; frequency of risky driving; type of harm for self-brought by alcohol and drug use and risk and self-seeking behaviour to combat its over usage. (Bhattacharya A., Health and Disability Intelligence, Ministry of Health 2010). What influenced policy -makers to adopt a particular course of action, what were the objectives of the policy? The result of the survey conducted by the assigned sectors from the Ministry of Health motivated policy-makers to frame actions in combatting the use of these substances. Among the objectives are for: the prevention of tobacco, alcohol and illegal drug use. the reduction of harm caused by tobacco, alcohol and illegal drug use as well as its exposure to second-hand smoking the reduction of harm towards individuals, families and community due to the consumption of the mentioned elements. the significant others and society to be prevented and remain secure by monitoring the illegitimacy of its use. Who are the policy-makers? Which, if any, interest groups do they represent? These policy-makers are people working from the Ministry of Health specifically those assigned in the Health and Disability Intelligence. Lawmakers of linkages from the central and local government agencies and non-government organizations also contributed in the making of these guidelines to be in a success. To date, these are amended from time to time by these individuals to solve issues concerning the misuse of alcohol, drugs and tobacco in this country. What have been the stages and methods, including organizational arrangements and structures, used in the policy-making process? The National Drug Policy has two parts. The first part includes the guidelines as a whole context. This includes the strategies, methods and all organizational involvements and edifices utilized during the course of making the policy. The next part talks about the flow and approach of policy in the next five years. What interested groups, if any, have been consulted and what sources and kinds of advice have been obtained? As mentioned in the policy, sectors that are affected from the central and local government agencies as well as those from non-government organizations are involved in the implementation of the strategies. Moreover, since New Zealand belongs to the three United Nations Conventions namely Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs 1961, Convention on Psychotropic Substances 1971 and Convention against the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Substances 1998, information that is provided under the policy has been derived from these sources. In similar fashion, data gathered from these conventions guide the making of the policy in terms of implementing control measures to ensure the use of narcotic drugs and other addictive substances for medical and scientific purposes without over using it. Drug trafficking prevention measures has also helped the makers of the policy in formulating their methods for this matter. Is the process of policy-making that has been adopted the best we can hope for? How might it be improved? In my subjective opinion, reading to thru the National Drug Policy, it has provided a detailed framework on how to approach the concerns of alcohol, illegal drugs and alcohol use of New Zealand. Indeed it is a good policy yet I cannot say that this is the best policy that we can hope for since in general, things change and everything in the world is drastic. This includes the way human beings deal with these substances. For it to be improved, I believe that lawmakers must depend on the result of studies of the current time and researches concerning these elements must be perennial. Strategies and approaches should be appropriate to current situations and individuals. Is it good policy? Yes, I remain certain that this is a good policy because it covers all concerns and how it will be applied to involved individuals, their families and the society as a whole. What has it achieved? The policy has achieved a number of outcomes. First is the Smoke-free Environment Amendment Act of 2003 which restricts the use of tobacco in working areas like restaurants and bars; as well as the ways on how to prevent non-smokers to second-hand smoke. The second is the formulation of the Community Action on Youth and Drugs which encourages the involvement of communities that aim to address the ill effects of drug on the youngsters. The third is the Effective Drug Education with its goal to educate the young people, their families and the society about drugs, tobacco and alcohol use. Lastly, The Alcohol Advisory Council which is geared to address drinking culture of adults in New Zealand. Would a different policy be likely to yield better results? For whom? -I do not think that a different policy would result to better results. There is actually no need for a different policy. What is important is that the strategies molded under this policy should be implemented properly and be amended in accord to the present concerns and issues. Does the present policy need changing? Conditions will apply as to the changing of the policy. As mentioned, the making of these laws are derived from studies, surveys or researches, hence, it will need changing based upon the results of these procedures. Is it feasible to change it and in what ways? -Yes, it will be feasible for change for as well as the amendment will address the problems identified or if the methods mentioned in the policy is no longer effective. In your analysis you should also address the policy feasibility (Can it be implemented?) and plausibility (Can it be designed to make sense?). OR Complete a plan on which to develop solutions for the policy issue. (There is no requirement to develop the actual solutions). In your analytical response, you need to include the following: Describe the intervention you wish to develop (Public health interventions maybe found in intervention types such as legislation and regulation, resource allocation, financial and non-financial incentives, education, community and inter-sectoral collaboration/partnership, communication, community and organisational delivery, public policy development, engineering and technical interventions, and service development and delivery) Identify, describe and quantify the essential resources or things needed for the implementation of the policy. Identify appropriate programmes and activities that could be undertaken. Consider: Existing services that could contribute to a strategy Needed services that are possible to help implement the strategy Applicability of possible services Identify and define strategies or alternative means for achieving implementation objectives. Identify and develop policy goals and objectives Make recommendations as to the practicability and acceptability of the policy. Politics, laws and budgets If policies are the outcomes of choices that entities make to achieve their goals, then politics is the means to those ends. The product of the two (policy and politics) is usually legislation and the budgetary process that is required to support implementation. Politics is an activity whereby people achieve what they want by exerting power and influence. It involves conflict over the distribution of scarce resources. As a Healthcare professional you may be required to advocate and therefore be involved in political action. There are four major areas within which you may be asked to influence outcomes – the workplace, government, professional organisations and the community. For each of these areas, discuss and analyse the types of decision you may be asked to help influence. Workplace. The advocacy in my workplace with regards to following policies should start within myself as an individual. This should commence within me which means that I must follow the policies mandated in my workplace. Being a model of my own self I will be able to influence others to follow rules and regulations. This must be through my actions and behaviors aside from my word of mouth. In addition, policies in our workplace are important in order for the staff and all other people concerned to abide with the institutional guidelines. This will help maintain the standards of orderliness and harmony or peace in my workplace. However, there are rules that are not appropriate as to some situations. Thus, I can contribute by involving myself in committees and may express concerns or suggestions for these regulations to be reviewed. I can also join surveys or be one of the respondents for policy improvements. Government. As a Filipino, I could not help but look back on how our government runs our policies. While it is true that laws are based from general standards globally and relatively in the same concept, undeniably, even our own lawmakers do not follow their own policies that they proposed and passed in the congress. To be an advocate in following the policies of the government here in New Zealand, I can do this by being a law-abiding individual. Moreover, I can contribute more by being familiar to the government system in this country. Professional Regulation. Involvement in civic groups related to my profession is a beneficial advocacy since it will be easier for me to relate to concerns with regards to policy. Community. By all means, there are groups in the community which focuses on policy issues. I can make myself available for surveys and any other methods to make doors for policy implementation and amendments. REFERENCES: http://www.ndp.govt.nz http://www.moh.govt.nz