|
|
|
Emotional Development and Self Esteem in Children
Emotional and Social Development
Many theorists have suggested the emotional development of a
child, or the core of one's self esteem needs to be understood
and fostered at home and in the classroom. Teachers and parents
should focus on...
Five Leadership Secrets For Challenging Times
We consistently face new and ever growing challenges in the workplace such as reorganizing, downsizing, and “left out sizing.” We are faced with the question, “How do we lead in this storm of change?” It may seem difficult at times and the decisions...
Job Search Pals Find Jobs Faster!
JOB SEARCH PALS FIND JOBS FASTER!
Most English speakers have heard the expression:
"Two heads are better than one". The saying
rings ever more true with job seekers.
Think of this. The lonely job seeker is attempting
to find a job by...
Team Building: Developing A Team To Rely On
Team building is very important when it comes to managing people. People are simply more willing to work together, when the atmosphere encourages it. For many organizations this is quite necessary for the business to run well. When everyone gets...
The Five C’s To Building A Career You Will Love
If you have clarity about what you want and need in your life, you are more likely to get it. This is as true for your career as it is for other things in your life. However, most people spend more time researching and evaluating a car purchase,...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Making Sure You Have Good Employment References
Most people don't give much thought about references until after a potential employer asks for them. After all, searching for a job is very time consuming and doesn't give you much of a chance to think about anything except getting interviews. But reference checks are a very important part of the job search process: both for job seekers and for employers. For employers, references are a chance to add depth to the information they have learned about you from the interview and from your resume.
At a minimum, your references should confirm the information the employer has about you and that you are a competent employee. However, you should strive to provide references who can be as enthusiastic about you and you would be about yourself. A great reference makes the hiring manager feel good about their decision to hire you and sets a positive tone for your first few days on the job. As the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression and your references can help you do that.
Getting Your Ducks In a Row
It's a good idea to get a reference letter from your manager as soon after leaving a position as possible. Getting a reference letter right away makes it easier for your manager to recall specific contributions you made to the team. Even if you don't end up needing a reference right away, having the reference letter provides you with something to fall back on in the event you are unable to contact your former manager at a later time. Plus, if you decide to go back to the manager a year or more later to ask them to provide a phone reference, you can remind them about the reference letter they wrote for you.
Before asking someone to take the time to write a reference letter or provide a phone reference, it's a good idea to get a feel for what they would say about you. One way to do this is to say "Do you feel you know me well enough to write a good reference letter?" instead of just "Could you write a reference letter?" This way, if the person doesn't feel they could say something positive, they have an easy way to decline your request.
Employers who ask for references want to confirm dates of employment and position titles at a minimum. They will also try to find out if your former boss would rehire you given the opportunity. And many employers will ask the reference to grade your abilities in the specific areas that will apply to your new job. For example, if you're applying for a job as a manager, the employer may ask your reference to rate your managerial skills on a scale from 1 to 10. Having a sense of the types of questions employers are likely to ask your references, you should try to gauge the potential reference's response to these questions before deciding to let them vouch for you. For example, you could say "I'm curious - if you had the chance, would you hire me again to work for
you?"
Using Non-Employer References
If you don't have a lot of good references from former employers, non-employer references can be helpful too. Generally, a potential employer will want at least two references from former employers. But if they require three references, you may be able to provide two from former employers and one from someone else. Professors, former co-workers and customers can all be good references if they know you well. If you have a choice between providing three lukewarm references from former employers or two lukewarm references from former employers plus one glowing reference from someone you didn't work for, the latter is probably the better choice. A survey done by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) found more than eight out of ten human resource professionals regularly check references, so don't count on an employer not contacting a lukewarm or bad reference.
Legal Issues
There are a lot of misconceptions about the legal issues surrounding reference checks. Some job seekers mistakenly believe that former employers can only provide dates of employment, position titles and salary history. Even though many companies have established regulations specifying that managers are only to confirm dates of employment, position and salary history, many managers are either unaware of these regulations or simply ignore them. Legally, an employer can provide as much information as they want about your tenure with their organization.
As long as a former employer does not knowingly provide false information in a reference check, it is fair game. An employer can legally say or write negative things about you if they are just opinions. For example, the employer could say "John was a horrible manager." What is not legal would be for an employer to knowingly provide false information. For example, if a former manager didn't like you, they could not say "John started a fire in our office building that caused thousands of dollars in damage" if it was not true. Regardless of the legal rules, you do not want your references to say bad things about you. There are companies that for a small fee will call your references and provide you with the results. If you suspect a reference you're using is saying unfavorable things, you may wish to consider using a reference checking firm. Alison & Taylor is one of the leading companies in this market. To find out more about them, visit this link:
http://www.jobsearchinfo.com/at.htm
About the Author
Scott Brown is the author of the Job Search Handbook (http://www.JobSearchHandbook.com). As editor of the HireSites.com weekly newsletter on job searching, Scott has written many articles on the subject. He wrote the Job Search Handbook to provide job seekers with a complete yet easy to use guide to finding a job effectively.
|
|
|
|
|
| Team Building - A Complete Guide & Online Resources |
| Team building exercises, articles, online questionnaires, practical tips and other printable resources. |
| www.teamtechnology.co.uk |
|
| The Basics of Team Building |
| The Basics of Team Building: The difference between teams and groups, and why 'team building' with groups can be counter-productive. |
| www.teamtechnology.co.uk |
|
| Team Building |
| Team Building: Communications of Informal Work Groups (The Grapevine) ... Team Building: Changing Informal Work Group/ Team Norms ... |
| www.managementhelp.org |
|
| Team Building Activities, Initiative Games & Problem Solving Exercises |
| Descriptions of team building activities, initiative games & group problem solving exercises which are designed to help train a group's effectiveness in ... |
| wilderdom.com |
|
| Teambuilding, Inc., Team Building, Consultants, Tools, Training ... |
| Team building services, bookstore, catalog, discussion, articles, links, and team problem solver. |
| www.teambuildinginc.com |
|
| Teambuilding Inc. Articles |
| Team building articles and more from Teambuilding, Inc. |
| www.teambuildinginc.com |
|
| Team Building / Teams / Employee Empowerment / Employee Involvement |
| Employee involvement, teams, and employee empowerment enable people to make decisions about their work. This employee involvement, teambuilding approach, ... |
| humanresources.about.com |
|
| Twelve Tips for Team Building: How to Build Successful Work Teams |
| People in every workplace talk about building the team, working as a team and my team, but few understand how to create the experience of team work or how ... |
| humanresources.about.com |
|
| Team building exercises, employee motivation, employee training ... |
| Team building exercises, employee motivation, activities, human resource managment, employee training. productivity, improve productivity, ... |
| www.accel-team.com |
|
| Fun Team Building: Team Building Exercises & Activities | Staff ... |
| Team building success coache who turns participants into powerful, cohesive teams. |
| www.funteambuilding.com |
|
| Conflict Resolution in Team Work - Teambuilding Adventures |
| Teambuilding Adventures utilizes experiential activities to build and bond local and global high performance teams. Outdoor adventures add impact to team ... |
| www.teambuilding.com |
|
| team building games ideas, exercises, business games and ... |
| Free team building games ideas and tips for business exercises, games, activities for team building, training, management, motivation, kids activities, ... |
| www.businessballs.com |
|
| team building games, business games and activities for team ... |
| Free team building games, exercises, business games and activities for team building, training, motivation, kids activities and children's party games. |
| www.businessballs.com |
|
| Team Building |
| The resources displayed here have been carefully selected to enable you to customize an exceptional team-building environment for your next conference. ... |
| www.teambuilding.co.nz |
|
| Team building Exercises and Corporate Event planning UK |
| Specialises in producing customised company days and team building events throughout the UK. Offers video of past events, descriptions and job ... |
| www.actiondays.co.uk |
|
| Team building - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| For a notorious recent example of team building run amok, ... The term 'team building' can refer generally to the selection and motivation of teams, ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Corporate Team Building, Teambuilding, Activities, Catering |
| Team building west offers services corporate team building, activities, catering, rentals. |
| www.teambuildingwest.com |
|
| Team Building: Developing a Productive Team, CC352 |
| This publication looks at the steps necessary to build a productive team. |
| ianrpubs.unl.edu |
|
| Team Building Activities that encourage people to work together as ... |
| Team Building Activities demonstrate different aspects of team behaviors and get team members to think about what is essential for high performing teams. ... |
| www.businessfundamentals.com |
|
| Team Building - Australia's Premium Teambuilding Company |
| Dimensional Thinking designs and delivers the highest quality experience-based learning programs for the conference market. We provide an exciting, ... |
| www.teambuilding.com.au |
|
|