** HR Talent management
Using Branding to Recruit Talent
Together Abroad02-11-2017 2:10 PM
Branding is essential for every company in order to attract new partners, customers and/or candidates. Branding helps build strong and long-term relationships by increasing the brand awareness within the industry. Nowadays, companies try to recruit talents that they can benefit from, including at reduced cost of hire, and with effective results and positive recognition. In fact, there are specific practices of branding that employers can apply to effectively recruit talent.
According to a 2014 research from HR analyst Aptitude Research Partners, 1 in 4 companies are not confident about their employer branding. Employer branding consists of a combination of functional, economical and psychological benefits that a company provides to the employees, including its identity, working culture and values. Thus, to recruit talents, employers should be able to provide such a package that would persuade candidates it is the best choice for their personal and professional development.
Therefore, using company branding to attract talents is about convincing candidates how much your company can offer them compared to the competition. Top candidates have several options to choose from, and their final decision will be a combination of salary, professional benefits, as well as what they can contribute to the company and what...
Credible Creativity
Together Abroad02-10-2017 10:40 AM
Creativity is often associated with artists, musicians, and scientists. It is rarely recognized as belonging to the sphere of everyday life or with work – like being tied to business and economics. However, when defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, creativity can easily be applied to most aspects of our lives. There are three main reasons why people are motivated to be creative. The first one is the need for novel, varied, and complex stimulation. The second is the need to communicate ideas and values. And the third is the need to solve problems. All three needs are often encountered at various work tasks.
In order to be creative, a person needs to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective, amongst which is the ability to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. Tests of creativity measure not only the number of alternatives that people can generate, but also the uniqueness of those alternatives. The ability to generate alternatives or to see things uniquely does not occur by chance; it is linked to other, more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility,...
How Diversity Can Affect Talent Development
Together Abroad29-05-2017 12:38 PM
There are numerous ways that diversity can help a business grow; a lot of research has found that a diverse workforce is key for company innovation and is accommodated through varied voices of opinions from different lines of experience. This is arguably one of, if not, the greatest strengths of a diverse workforce, and it reveals how diverse talents in a workforce can be sharpened through greater synergy between workers, where each worker’s perspective and ideas carries a greater weight in a more heterogeneous team, and they can learn from each other....
The Personality Performance Connection and What It Means to Productivity
Together Abroad03-10-2016 11:43 PM
In the recent years, there have been many researches on the link between personality and work performance. The findings vary slightly, but all agree that personality accounts for less than 10% of work performance. So what dwells outside those 10%?
Personality + EI = Performance
According to Prof. Robin Stuart-Kotze, if you want to predict job performance, personality is the wrong place to start. He says, ‘personality is what you are; behaviour is what you do, and it’s what you do that makes the difference’.
In other words, being an extravert does not necessarily make a person effective at doing extraverted things such as pitching a sale. Also, having an introverted trait does not make someone ineffective in...
How Skilled Communicators Can Block Openness
Jostein van Vliet06-09-2016 9:48 AM
Many modern managers want their team to communicate openly for its beneficial effects on learning and performance. Their ambition is supported by findings in business and science. For example, a large study at Google on the effectiveness of their work teams pointed to one critical factor explaining the performance of teams: psychological safety. In high performing teams, the participants equally contributed in conversations and were able to intuit what others were thinking and feeling from non-verbal cues.
So, open communication where people share valid verbal and non-verbal information seems a good idea. Why then, do we often experience situations where things are left unsaid? In this article we will explore how managers can stimulate openness.
Good Reasons for Holding Back
First, back to that concept of psychological safety. One way to understand it is as a shared belief that it is okay to take risks, and that others will not embarrass or punish you for speaking up. ‘Shared’ is important here: suppose I hold something back, because I think you might use that information against me. You notice something odd about my reactions and you start thinking I hold something back, and you also feel less inclined to share. I...
Using Praise Effectively and Why It Is Important
Sonja vos Ralevska06-09-2016 9:30 AM
It is common knowledge that being praised often makes people feel good. Satisfaction, pleasure, pride and increased feelings of self-esteem are all common reactions to being paid a compliment or receiving positive feedback. This is because these reactions trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps control the reward and pleasure centres of the brain. As well as making us feel good, dopamine can also contribute to innovative thinking and creative problem-solving at work.
Psychologists and researchers have long been fascinated by the effects of praise on workplace performance and behaviour, and what this means for organisations. In 2004, the Gallup Organisation conducted a worldwide research project, surveying more than four million employees about the importance of praise and recognition. Gallup concluded that employees who receive regular praise are more productive, engaged and more likely to stay with their organisation, than those who do not. The survey results also indicated that employees who are praised receive higher...
Recruiting: How to Keep Candidates Interested
Together Abroad04-07-2016 3:10 PM
But the first step is to attract their attention.Already a job description or the first line of approach on, for example, LinkedIn may be crucial to your success with a candidate. In any case, the most successful way to reach out to passive candidates is via telephone. There are many factors that influence the outcome of such an approach–timing, wording, length of message, intonation, persistence... it would beenough to address in a separate article.
Lets assume all this has gone well and the candidate wants to move forward with the position, and continue with the next step of the recruitment process. What if now suddenly the position is put on hold, or the hiring manager is on holiday, or there are other issues that keep the process...
Why you should encourage employees to shape their own job
Together Abroad30-11-2015 12:20 PM
If you are a good leader, first of all you want to have happy employees in your company who come to the job with a big smile on their faces and a lot of new ideas. You also want them to be responsible, passionate, well-performing, and critical-thinking. I am sure that there are 1 hundred more skills and abilities you would like your employees to have. However, it is only possible to get this kind of outcome if your staff is passionate about the job and their motivation factor is really high. Unfortunately, more and more employees do not have a chance to fully realise their creative potential and realise all the brilliant ideas they have. Therefore, the bigger question is HOW? How can you keep your employees motivated? One of the answers –encourage them to shape their job. Give them freedom of expression and make them feel attached to what they do.
Let’s look at the situation more closely in order to understand it better. I...
For an expat moving to the Netherlands, getting the right direction is very important. It's important that one knows which steps and direction to take. Linda is an exceptionally talent counselor, her advice has helped me land a job within a week of coming to the Netherlands. I am grateful for her mentoring and look forward to a great working relationship in the future.
Dr. Hrishiraj S | Clinical Research & Affairs Manager
Together Abroad provided expert advice on personal branding including developing a top-notch, market-aware CV, highly tailored job applications, and approach strategies with potential employers in the Netherlands. Furthermore, I found them be highly knowledgeable in key related fields such as recruitment strategy, immigration law, contracts, labor agreements, and (un)employment benefits. I would recommend Together Abroad to anyone who needs professional help with transitioning to a new career.
A. Aboufirass | Structural Engeer
Linda is a big mind. She thinks about things that the rest normally overlook. The insight she has about the dutch job market can only be achieved through years of experience and persistence.
Her business savvy is complemented by her mastery of understanding the client's needs and requirements. For my career I could say, she was the “Mary Poppins”, who guided me through thick and thin and helped me to land a career in the Netherlands
S. Bhattacharjee | FP&A Manager
If you are going to enlist the services of a "Career Coach" look no further. The only person you want in your corner is Linda van Orsouw. As an expat, you absolutely want to work with a highly skilled and knowledgeable professional who knows their way around the Dutch career/employment/job market. Linda assisted me in writing and positioning my CV, helped me organize and prioritize my list of opportunities, coached me through mock interviews and was there when I got offered a senior position only 2 months later. When asked I will only refer to Linda and "Togetherabroad".
Mr. C. Joubert
Lead Workplace Strategy Consultant
Mr. C. Joubert
Lead Workplace Strategy Consultant