Are you looking to add some highly qualified remote employees to your team? With the right strategy, hiring remotely can be a great way to increase efficiency and productivity while reducing operational costs.
Finding and onboarding talented remote workers is essential for business growth. This blog post provides tips on how to do this successfully. We will discuss what skills and qualifications you are looking for, how to include those in a job description, and finally how to Follow these tips to take your business to new heights!
Consider what skills and talents you are looking for
In today’s highly competitive business environment, identifying the ideal candidate with the right blend of skills and talents is crucial for driving your organization’s growth and success. To help you through this quest, we have outlined four essential questions that will guide you in writing the perfect job description. By answering these questions, not only will you crystallize the qualifications needed for the role, but you will also refine your company’s employment strategy, ultimately attracting the best and brightest professionals in your field. So, let’s delve into discovering the dynamics of your dream team!
Is your job description turning away good talent?
Your job description is going to determine if you even have people applying. You need to start by outlining the role and responsibilities clearly. Create a list of tasks to help you structure your description. Ensure that the candidate has a clear understanding of the role and its significance within the organization. Provide sufficient context about the role to accomplish this. A job description should clearly explain the role of the job and leave little room for interpretation.
Next, identify the must-have qualifications and experience for the role. Be specific and realistic, avoid setting unrealistic expectations, and avoid using a long and wordy list of requirements. Remember, your goal is to attract a diverse pool of talented applicants, so be inclusive in your language and consider candidates with transferrable skills.
Consider showcasing your company’s culture and core values when describing the ideal candidate. Remote employees value a supportive work environment, so emphasizing your commitment to providing the necessary resources and fostering collaboration will appeal to potential applicants. Furthermore, highlight any unique aspects of your company or the work that set you apart from your competitors.
Clearly detail the perks and benefits of working remotely for your organization. Be transparent about your company’s remote work policies and clearly state if this is a hybrid or fully remote position.
Finally, make sure to review and proofread the job description before posting it online. A well-written job description reduces the risk of hiring an unfit candidate and cuts down on the time and resources spent on back-and-forth communication. By following these guidelines, you’ll be on your way to hiring successful remote employees who align with your company’s needs and contribute positively to your team.
Does the pay match the experience you’re asking for?
In today’s fast-paced business world, having a team filled with successful remote employees is essential. Hiring the right professionals for remote positions can make all the difference in your company’s growth and success. However, one significant aspect of attracting top talent is offering a competitive salary that matches the experience you’re asking for.
It’s crucial to provide a salary that appropriately reflects their skills and expertise. Professionals with extensive experience and talent bring added value to your organization and can positively impact its overall performance. Compare the salary you’re offering with similar positions online. This will help you to ensure your compensation package is in line with industry standards.
The old saying, “You’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” rings true in the realm of hiring remote employees. To attract highly skilled individuals, your job offer needs to be enticing and competitive. Offering an attractive salary is an essential aspect of this process, as it can make you stand out from other employers.
Keep in mind that talented remote workers who have a lot of experience in their field often receive multiple offers. To secure their services, it’s essential to make sure the “honey” factor is present in your compensation package.
Flexibility and adaptability are two essential traits of a successful remote worker. By offering a salary package that accurately reflects an employee’s experience and skills, you showcase your organization’s commitment to these values.
Are you turning away good talent without a college degree?
We understand that in some careers, a college degree is essential. However, for the majority of roles, the experience can be just as beneficial, if not more so. Organizations must carefully craft job descriptions and set requirements. This is essential to prevent discouraging highly qualified candidates. A simple change in how you word your job postings can make a significant difference in the quality and diversity of applicants.
For instance, consider using “college degree preferred, but not required” in your job descriptions. This inclusive approach keeps the door open for candidates with proven experience who may lack formal education credentials but possess the skills, competencies, and passion needed for the role.
In the end, the purpose of hiring is to find the best talent for the position. By acknowledging that a degree isn’t necessarily the only measure of a candidate’s success, employers can attract a wider range of exceptional remote employees who bring valuable experience and energy to the team.
Do you really need a cover letter?
In the digital age, hiring remote employees continues to become the norm for many businesses. However, traditional hiring methods still focus on cover letters, which are rarely reflective of a candidate’s true skills and capabilities. Instead, employers should prioritize tangible results by requesting an applicant’s portfolio or completed work samples.
When considering remote candidates, it’s essential to focus on their ability to produce high-quality work independently. A well-written cover letter might be impressive, but it does not necessarily guarantee that the candidate possesses the skills you require.
Prioritizing work samples over cover letters can be more efficient. It also gives talented candidates an opportunity to showcase their skills, even if they find writing cover letters challenging. This will allow a broader range of talent to apply to this position.
Invest in a robust hiring process
If you’re struggling to find and keep top-tier candidates then you might want to spend more time focusing on your hiring process as a whole. Sometimes we hire people too quickly, without ensuring they will be a good fit. A quick interview isn’t enough to learn if someone will work well with your company.
If you are looking to hire remote employees, we highly suggest a multi-interview approach. We also suggest interviews with multiple people. You can get different opinions if you do one interview with just the hiring manager and then a second interview with HR or another supervisor present.
Consider using personality and skills assessments
Our team, at Cultural Impact, uses TTI Success Insights amongst our own team and for our clients. It has helped us learn more about each other, ourselves, and how we all work together. It’s also a very useful tool in the hiring process of some of our clients.
Through using TTI Success Insights, we’re able to learn more about ourselves and our team members, refining our remote work dynamics and fostering greater collaboration. This powerful tool has not only proven helpful in understanding our current employees but has been indispensable in our clients’ hiring processes as well.
This tool helps identify the employees’ preferred working styles, communication preferences, and skill sets. Managers can then properly align each hire with the appropriate team and tasks while ensuring a harmonious and efficient working environment.
Choosing to use a probationary period
Navigating the world of remote work can be quite daunting, especially when it comes to recruitment. There’s a multitude of talent out there, but how can you be sure you’ve hired the right candidate for the job? One method that has been gaining popularity is the implementation of a probationary period.
First off, it’s essential to understand that probationary periods are not meant to be harsh. On the contrary, they can prove helpful for both you and your new hire. Probationary periods allow employees to understand their roles better and gauge whether the company’s culture and vision align with their expectations.
Success in remote work requires a team of dedicated and skilled individuals. Implementing a probationary period can help ensure that you’ve picked the right candidate to join your remote team. Give it a try when hiring your next remote team member, and you might just find the missing piece that takes your team to new heights.
As a leader in the nonprofit space, you understand that running an organization requires hard work and dedication. As a leader, you know how the leadership qualities you have that help guide your team toward success. But what specific skills do successful nonprofit leaders need to develop if they want to successfully lead their teams?
In this post, we’ll delve into six crucial competencies—from public speaking to stress management—that all nonprofit leaders should strive to improve upon. Read on to learn how to expand your leadership skills to run a successful nonprofit organization.
Public Speaking
Public speaking is one of the most important skills for all nonprofit leaders to develop. You need to be able to give persuasive and compelling presentations about your organization. Being able to clearly articulate your mission and financial needs is essential for building a strong base of donors, volunteers, and partners.
Public speaking helps you become an effective advocate, represent your organization in civic discussions, and educate groups on how working together can make a lasting impact. With strong public speaking abilities, you can be confident that you will be able to represent your organization’s goals in any situation or venue.
Fortunately, this vital skill can be learned with practice-perfecting speeches and presentations as well as gaining experience from media interviews and occasional unexpected questions from volunteers and associates. Attending conferences and presentations from other leaders is a great way to learn best practices. Building your communication skills takes time, but it’s easy to practice while working towards your organization’s goals.
Networking
This skill is often overlooked, but networking can make a difference in the success or failure of any organization. Nonprofit leaders need to be able to engage with potential stakeholders, sponsors, or investors and be open to hearing new ideas from various sources.
Networking is key in getting the word out about your organization and the work you’re doing and almost any event can be a networking opportunity. This is your chance to establish relationships and build strong connections that can be beneficial to both parties. However, this will require confidence in presenting yourself and your organization well. Improving public speaking skills is essential to successful networking.
Meeting new people should consist of a business introduction and exchanging business cards. As soon as possible, put their contact information in our phone with a note on how you met them and what they do. Take the time to connect with them on Linkedin. An important part of networking, that is usually overlooked, is maintaining networks. You need to interact with your connections through social media, attend networking events, and invite them to your networking opportunities.
Time-Management
All nonprofit leaders need to hone and practice their time management skills. It’s not only going to help your organization be successful, but it will help you take care of yourself while leading your organization. Figuring out your organizational style and the techniques you enjoy is first. Figure out what size calendar or planner you’ll need, if you need to have a hard copy, or if you can stick to digital calendars, and decide if you need additional help.
Being able to allocate tasks to others is an important part of time management. It is crucial, as a leader, to know which tasks you can complete and which tasks you need help to complete. You’ll also find as things get busier that you might need to schedule time for yourself and important things in your private life. There’s nothing worse than forgetting about a family member’s or friend’s event because of work.
Reading and Working with Budgets
This one could keep you from getting yourself and your organization in a lot of trouble. Learning to read and work with budgets and different financial statements might seem intimidating. However, this skill can be learned by simply reading and looking at other examples. Study other organizations’ financial records and evaluate case studies similar to your organization.
While it’s important for nonprofit leaders to be able to read and work with budgets themselves, it’s also important to learn when to give tasks to someone else. Hiring a trustworthy and reputable accountant can elevate a lot of stress for your organization.
Problem-Solving
Utilizing your problem-solving skills is more about being able to think creatively and on the spot. You can start by playing puzzle games and looking at different case studies on organizational struggles. Also, try working with other people when problems arise, you can learn other techniques and see how others use their skills.
Being able to solve problems quickly, efficiently, and without creating additional stress or problems is a part of this skill. Learning to resolve conflicts in a productive way benefits your organization and personal life. You might not always have the answers right away, but you take your time finding the answer.
Stress Management
Learning what is going to add to your stress and coping mechanisms to control that stress will help you in all aspects of your life. This skill is important for anyone to learn, especially nonprofit leaders, as your stress can affect the success of your organization.
Working with a trusted therapist and practicing mindfulness techniques are good ways to start learning about stress management. If you know your triggers and ways to cope with them, you’ll be better prepared for stressful situations when they arise.
While there are many skills required to help manage a successful nonprofit organization, these six are crucial. Furthermore, developing these leadership skills should be a constant pursuit, keep working on yourself. As a nonprofit professional, your actions and endeavors have a ripple effect on the entire community. It’s important to recognize this and work to make the best impact you can by improving your leadership skills.
As any great leader would tell you, know that hard work and perseverance pay off. In the end, we all want to be significant figures that leave a lasting impact on this world; why not start with your own nonprofit? If you need help in any aspect of your nonprofit, reach out to our team.
In recent years, the topic of quiet quitting has been getting a lot of attention. When an employee on a team slowly stops putting in the same effort or changes their working habits, it can be a sign that they are ready to leave. In this post, we will explore some of the symptoms of quiet quitting and what you can do to prevent it on your team.
What is quiet quitting?
The sensation of quiet quitting began with a TikTok video from Zaid Khan explaining the term. Zaid explains that people aren’t putting in their two-week notices but are starting to work less and be less productive. Quiet quitting might look like this:
Less interest in daily tasks and achieving goals
Projects taking longer, but not up to their usual standard of work
Being distant or even unfriendly toward coworkers
Actively looking for a new job but not telling anyone at your current job
How do you identify quiet quitting?
We are constantly stressing the importance of a strong human resources department, and this is yet another reason. You should be working with the HR department to evaluate and track employee performance.
It will be easier for HR to ask questions and get answers out of employees rather than have the person they report to address these issues. HR can act as a mediator between employees and management.
Before firing an employee, consider a few things:
Whether their recent poor performance is due to a temporary issue or if it is a permanent change.
Think about whether the employee was previously a high performer but has now lost interest in their work.
If there have been changes in their work situation (e.g. new team, new project), that could be affecting their performance.
Finally, have an open conversation with the employee to see if there is anything you can do to help.
Before giving up on an employee who seems to be quiet quitting, remember why you hired them.
How can you stop quiet quitting?
Once you understand why your employees are starting to act differently, then you can start to address those causes. This is a process that will take time, you should spend a couple of weeks working with employees to find causes. After identifying causes you need to keep working with HR to come up with solutions.
You will need to re-evaluate employee performance after an allotted amount of time to ensure your plans are making improvements. The next session is about different strategies you can take to improve employee performance and retention.
Work towards creating a better company culture
We’ve discussed this in other blogs before, both on this site and on our LinkedIn. In short, you can:
Define company culture clearly in your human resources manual
Connect people to your core values
Create a sense of ownership for your company’s success
Work towards building strong working relationships among employees
Give employees the freedom to make choices and express themselves
Promote a healthy work/life balance
Encourage employee recognition
Lead by example
Company culture is one of the biggest reasons people join a company and for people to leave. Building a strong and attractive company culture should be your first step to fighting quiet quitting and retaining employees.
Support employee’s mental health
Promoting positive mental health practices in our workplace can go a long way in improving not just the working environment, but potentially the lives of your employees. It’s important to work with your HR team about your options and how to take steps to improve working conditions
Hire and train strong leaders
Strong leaders will lead a healthy workforce. No matter how long they have been with the company, it’s important to remember that education is an ongoing process.
In an age of constant distractions, it can be hard to keep your office running smoothly. If you’re struggling to keep employees in your office, or retain them entirely, don’t worry – you’re not alone.
Our team can help you implement strategies to reduce absenteeism and promote employee productivity. With our help, you’ll be able to create a healthy workplace that retains top talent. Contact us today to learn more!
Here at Cultural Impact, we have spent over a year researching and working with different marketing tools. We also figure the cost of these services into our pricing so our potential customers know the tools we are using to help their businesses. Our marketing department did all of the hard work and research over the last year, and we wanted to share what we found.
Keep reading to learn more about the tools and services we use that have reshaped our business.
Marketing Tools
We’re going to start with tools and software. These digital marketing tools each have their own websites that we have linked.
Semrush
When we tell you that we are obsessed with Semrush, we’re not joking. This amazing software has over 40 tools available. While they are most known for their SEO tools, they also have tools for content creation and tracking content. They also have tools for completing keyword and competitor research, as well as social media management tools.
We will let you know that Semrush can be expensive, but it’s well worth it if you are using it and being consistent.
Price: We suggest checking out the free plan for beginners before upgrading to the Pro plan for $119.95/mo. Semrush has 2 other plans that are more expensive and have more perks. There are also several individual tools that you can buy to get even more out of Semrush.
Notion
This is a must-have app for anyone who loves staying organized or the opposite and struggles to stay organized. For those who love it, you can create so many unique possibilities for organization, tracking, and even writing. If you struggle with staying organized there are templates for pretty much everything. You can find the perfect template and get started on your organization’s goals.
Price: Free, templates are available through different sites for varying prices, or you can look at Notion’s template gallery.
Grammarly
Everyone has heard of Grammarly, so if you haven’t already added this extension to your browser, here’s your chance. You can also use their writing assistant for more than a quick grammar check.
Price: There is a free plan with essential writing help. The Premium plan is $12.00/mo or the Business plan for $15.00/mo. Full pricing here
Jasper
If you struggle with writing copy or have to write a lot of it then you need to check out Jasper. This AI writing tool creates unique and original content in a matter of seconds. From coming up with topic ideas to creating lists to helping with long-form blogs, Jasper really does it all.
Price: Jasper offers 10k words for free and then for 20k/mo the Starter plan is $29.00/mo
WordPress Plugins
We aren’t just a consulting service, we offer you all the tools to build your website on your own as well. While we offer three different website-building platforms, we prefer WordPress. WordPress is user-friendly, even for non-coders, and has plenty of plugins available to elevate your pages.
WordPress is probably the best website builder we’ve used, it’s easy even for those of us who have never built or developed a website. With a little assistance from YouTube or even a consultation with our team, you can learn how to build your website.
The following is a list of the plugins we use on WordPress, not only for ourselves but also for our clients who see the value in them and want to buy them.
Divi Builder
Divi was created by Elegant Themes but will work with almost any other WordPress theme. It allows you to create eye-catching, pages with minimal developer knowledge. If you want to learn more about Divi and how to use it, check out this Youtube video we found helpful.
Price: Divi starts at $89/year or you can sign up for their lifetime access for a 1-time payment of $249. If you can wait you might be able to get Divi for a discount, they regularly do promotions and specials so keep an eye on their website or social media.
Yoast
Yes, we use two different SEO tools, it’s an extra level of protection. Yoast is a WordPress plugin that will help you check your blog post’s SEO, including meta descriptions, slugs, image alt. text, and more.
This CRM (customer relationship management) tool is perfect l for growing and scaling businesses. Hubspot combines CRM, Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, and CMS (content management systems) all in one place. Their tools are also easy to customize and, even for our not-so-tech-savvy marketing team.
This plugin is designed for WordPress and is as easy to use as SeedProd. Mailpoet is a drag-and-drop marketing service that makes creating and sending newsletters a breeze.
Price: The free Starter plan is great for that, starting, but the $8/mo Creator plan has more statistics and tracking. The $10/mo Business plan lets you send emails without the MailPoet branding. If you are running many websites then you will need the Agency plan which lets you use MailPoet on up to 50 websites.
TablePress
This is another free plugin made for WordPress that requires no coding or developing knowledge. You can create engaging and easy-to-create tables to use across your site.
Price: Free
Blog2Social
This plugin lets you share your website content alongside text, links, images, or videos to your social media. You can even schedule posts and share things from your pages or posts tabs.
Price: While there is a free plan, their Smart plan is $7.00/mo, the Pro plan is $11.00/mo and they have a business/agency plan for $29.00/mo.
If you found this blog helpful comment below with which marketing tools you’re going to start using and share this on your social media. If you need some help learning and utilizing these tools then reach out to our team.
Setting SMART goals for your business is crucial if you want to grow and expand. Unfortunately, setting loose goals or unachievable goals can do more harm than good. It can be easy to say, “I want to grow my social media,” but that simply isn’t enough. You need to set a specific, measurable goal that is attainable and relevant to your business with a time frame in mind.
Specific
What exactly do you want to achieve?
Instead of simply saying, “I want to grow my social media presence,” think about which platforms you could be using. After you know which platforms to use, figure out exactly what you want to do to improve your social media. Do you want to gain 100 followers? Do you want to get over 100 likes on every post? Maybe you need to be consistent on social media and your first goal is to simply post daily.
Measurable
How will you know you achieved this goal?
If you have your specifics figured out, making it measurable is pretty easy. Let’s say you want to gain followers, views, likes, or comments you can simply use insights on social media. On the other hand, if the goal is more logistics related, like improving sales by 100% or improving profit margins by X amount, then you need to find a way to track your progress. If you can’t track your progress, then how do you know what you’ve achieved?
Attainable
Can you realistically achieve this?
Some people are better at dreaming big than others. Make sure that the goal you’re setting is attainable for your current situation. Do you have the necessary skill set, resources, time, and energy to achieve this goal? Sometimes this is the part of the goal-setting phase where you need to decide if you need outside help. Hiring a consultant firm, like ours, can be extremely beneficial if you have the resources, but maybe not the time and necessary skills.
Relevant
Is this goal relevant to your current situation?
You need to make sure that the goals you set are relevant to your overall business plans and strategies. If you’re not getting website clicks, consider specific and measurable goals that will lead to an increase in website traffic. “I want to increase website traffic,” is not a SMART goal. This could be your main objective, but what individual goals will get you to that? “I want to increase my Instagram followers by 100 people by the end of the 2nd quarter,” is a SMART goal. It is specific, measurable, most likely attainable, and relevant to my current situation.
Time Bound
When do you want to achieve this?
The final step to setting SMART goals is to make sure you set a time you want to achieve it. In our last section, I used the example of, “I want to increase my Instagram followers by 100 people by the end of the 2nd quarter”. In this case, “By the end of 2nd quarter” would be your time frame. It can be a day, month, or time frame, you just need to set a time that you want to accomplish your goal. Think back to all those school projects you did, you always had a deadline to get them done. The more time you gave yourself to work on the project the less stressed and more prepared you were.
I’m sure we’ve all waited until the last minute to finish a project, but your business isn’t just a middle school project. Your business is your pride and joy, and you need to make sure you’re taking the necessary steps to grow and expand your business. If you need help writing up a business plan and accomplishing all of the SMART goals that you set, reach out to us. We have all of the tools and resources you need to be successful.
Are you looking to add some highly qualified remote employees to your team? With the right strategy, hiring remotely can be a great way to increase efficiency and productivity while reducing operational costs. Finding and onboarding talented remote...
As a leader in the nonprofit space, you understand that running an organization requires hard work and dedication. As a leader, you know how the leadership qualities you have that help guide your team toward success. But what specific skills do...
In recent years, the topic of quiet quitting has been getting a lot of attention. When an employee on a team slowly stops putting in the same effort or changes their working habits, it can be a sign that they are ready to leave. In this post, we...
Here at Cultural Impact, we have spent over a year researching and working with different marketing tools. We also figure the cost of these services into our pricing so our potential customers know the tools we are using to help their businesses....
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