Posts by Chris Gardner
What Is the Culture of Your Sales Team?
No factor indicates more about the success or failure of your sales team than the quality of the culture. Positive cultures promote cooperation and innovation, leading directly to bigger sales and long-term business. Negative cultures, by contrast, lead to infighting, turnover, and lost opportunities. Unfortunately, actually observing, analyzing, and defining the culture of your sales…
Read MoreInterrupting Workplace Distractions
On any typical workday, we are faced with hundreds of choices about how to spend our time. Interrupting workplace distractions come in waves—regular, ever-present, taking on forms like coworkers, smartphones, and unnecessary meetings. We may physically be at work for eight hours, but how many of these hours are productive? Interrupting workplace distractions is becoming…
Read MoreHiring to Narrow the Gender Gap
You glance through a stack of resumes. You are impressed by the relevant, applicable experience you see. Education levels look great, too. You decide to set up interviews. But now, let’s be brutally honest. Do you look at the gender of the candidates before choosing who to interview? What if you’re hiring for a marketing…
Read MoreThe Smart Way to Network for Your Next Job
In today’s market, when we think networking, we think digital media. We think posting on LinkedIn, conquering Google’s algorithm, and writing emails that get noticed. Long gone are the days of passing a business card and flipping a stocked Rolodex. Today’s networking is multi-layered and omnipresent. We need to know the smart way to network…
Read MoreWays to Create a Culture of Respect & Communication Through Diversity of Thought
What can companies do when opinions polarize coworkers? Politics and elections. Social justice and protests. Landmark court cases and statues. Mask regulations and enforcement. In today’s world, there is lots of diversity… of thought. Everyone has a slightly different political perspective. And expressing opinions can quickly get emotional, especially during the pandemic. How can coworkers…
Read MoreWhy Having a Social Mission Launches Business
For many people, the desire to do something worthwhile dangles just like a paycheck. It can nag at an employee’s very core and tap into all motivation. As more and more employees verbalize the importance of social mission, companies are realizing the far-reaching benefits. Companies with a social mission often better attract and retain top…
Read MoreHow to Hire Gen Zers
Born between 1995-2015, Generation Zers represent approximately 25% of the population (Kasaka). They follow the Millennials, and at over two billion people, they are the most populous generation of all time (whatis.com). Generation Z offers the business world a fresh and unique perspective. Landing a Gen Z hire takes a thoughtful understanding of what makes…
Read MoreAll Aboard: Good Onboarding Leads to Better Retention
They say you never get a second chance to make a first impression. We’ve all been there. The first day on a new job. Priority number one is to meet with human resources. The morning consists of document signing, benefit information, and a tour of the office. You are introduced to dozens of people with…
Read MoreYou’re Good at Your Job, but Not Passionate—is that Enough?
You go to work every day and do a good job. You care (to a certain extent) about how well the company does. Your job is stable, and you think it is “ok.” But is that enough? Staying in a job when you lack passion is something you should contemplate. Should you stay in a…
Read MoreHow Bots & A.I. Take the Heart of out Hiring and Candidate Engagement
A.I. is in our daily headlines and how it’s impacting hiring and candidate engagement. How did YOU get hired for your current position? Did you put out “feelers” within your network? Did you apply blindly through a talent acquisition platform? Did you work with professional recruiters? In our current environment, bots and A.I. take the…
Read MoreEasing the Pain of Job Rejection for Both Sides
When a hiring decision comes down to two candidates, odds are good that you like them both. You have developed a working relationship through rounds of interviews and now face the dreaded task of “letting a second choice down easy.” What’s the best approach to easing the pain of job rejection for both sides? It’s…
Read MoreDo Reference Checks Offer the Hiring Process Value?
In my twenty years as a recruiter, I’ve never seen a selected candidate dismissed because of a reference check. It simply does not happen. Which makes me contemplate: Do reference checks offer the hiring process value This is because people do not offer references who will speak poorly. Also, reference checks are typically conducted after…
Read MoreIs Stress at Home Holding You Back at Work?
Last week, a coworker came into our office, set her bags down, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. The rest of us assumed it was exhaustion from the morning hustle and bustle, but was there more to it? Is it possible that she was glad to be away from stress at home? Is stress…
Read MoreHow to Give Praise That Matters
To this day, I can remember how hard I worked on an essay for my Psych 101 class in college. Wanting to impress the professor, I slaved over my writing—checking sources, adding quotes, and painstakingly working through the rubric. When the professor returned my paper, I was quite disappointed to see a simple letter “A”…
Read More“Soft Skills” Still Matter in a Modern Economy
Recently I was reminded that soft skills still matter in a modern economy. I was blown away by a woman I met at a business lunch. It wasn’t her appearance, her resume, or anything like that. It wasn’t her posture or choice of entrée. It was, frankly, her vocabulary. She is one of the most…
Read More5 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Recruiting Firm for Your Hiring Needs
Maybe your business has always handled its own hiring. Maybe employee referrals and website postings have worked in the past. Maybe you never thought your business would ever need to partner with a recruiting firm. It’s important to know what questions to ask before choosing a recruiting firm for your hiring needs. Until… you know…that…
Read More