Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Being Overlean Could Be Your Downfall

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Being Overlean Could Be Your Downfall Shazir Mucklaiis a startlingly young angel investor and adviser in disruptive startups. He currently runs a six-figure PR firm helping startups commercialize their products and launch their ideas.I say that he is startlingly young because according to his LinkedIn profile, he is still in college. One of things I love about working with millennials and Gen Z-ers is that they often excel at taking a successful idea and figuring out how to apply it elsewhere. When it comes to project management, Shazir did just that. In a recent article he penned for Forbes, he questions why PM should just be for big companies that can afford whole departments and experts. Shazir argues that even the smallest start-up or team should implement PM strategies in order to bring clarity, focus and much-needed structure to the growth process and operations. Project management is essential, he claims, because it facilitates the following: Agreement on “Reason for Being” According to Shazir, many teams can only provide long-winded explanations of thefeaturesof the product or service instead of thebenefitit imparts to customers. The question of “what does it do and why?” is usually answered fairly quickly after a project manager is engaged. Agreement on Goals Many smaller companies have flat organizational models. But, says Shazir, if every member of a four-person team is the leader, there are four different to-do lists, each in a different order. Mismatched priorities can be resolved by setting strategic, overarching goals with help from a project management orientation. For more where this came from, read the whole article at the QuickBase Fast Track blog.

Considering a career in Law Is it the end of Lawyer The Legal Services Act 2007 and Beyond. University of Manchester Careers Blog

Considering a career in Law Is it the end of Lawyer The Legal Services Act 2007 and Beyond. University of Manchester Careers Blog By Bernie Lyons Careers Consultant Richard Susskind’s book “The End of Lawyers” does not propose to rid the world of lawyers in Dr Evil style, but does write a fairly gloomy prediction that lawyers, as we know them, shall essentially cease to exist in their current form. It’s true. But I want to take a much more positive angle because these changing times, unprecedented in the history of our legal profession, throw up all sorts of exciting new things. Times are changing. And fast. The Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA) has revolutionised how we provide legal services. The next generation of lawyers â€" that’ll be you has new career opportunities opening up that their predecessors could barely imagine. But rather like looking down a canyon, attached to humanity solely by limp bunge rope, it’s a little bit exciting and a little bit scary all at once. Let’s recap on the Past, Present and Future: The Past To become a Solicitor you had one route. Or two, if you fancied it. One: Degree, Law College, 2 year Training Contract, Assistant Solicitor, Associate Solicitor, Salaried Partner, Equity Partner, retirement to San Tropez/ Blackpool (delete as appropriate). Two: Start work as a Clerk or Paralegal, study at the same time, qualify as a Legal Executive, go to Law College after 6 years. Qualify. As above. That was it, really. And you could only do it, by and large, in a law firm. Except Public Sector, private companies or the Government. If you found yourself unhappy with your employer at any stage, you moved to another law firm where exactly the same structure was in place. And to own all or part of a law firm â€" be a Partner â€" you had to be a qualified Solicitor. The ‘profession’, (almost, but not quite, the oldest ‘profession’ in the world), functioned in exactly the same way, happily undisturbed, from about the mid-16th Century until, well, 2007. Enter the Legal Services Act … The Present The LSA is a Government-led piece of legislation aimed at de-regulating and therefore expanding a sector reputedly worth £20billion to the UK economy, and the largest legal sector in Europe. Quite tempting then for any Government to want to change the grocers’ “closed shop” into a commercial retailers’ “open all hours” and cash in. And it was time anyway. Frankly, 5 centuries is quite long enough to go unchanged, although I appreciate it wasn’t totally without evolution. So then, what’s the current situation? Headline points are: Anyone â€" subject to regulations, of course â€" can own a law firm or provide legal services. Non-Solicitors can become Partners, so the HR Director, Finance Director and IT Director, can now genuinely have a career path beyond being an employee excluded from management decisions. Partnerships, unchanged for centuries, are being replaced by Limited Companies, management Boards, CEOs, COOs and Directors with limited liability. Ownership is corporate not personal. Surveyors, Estate Agents, Supermarkets, Accountants, Financial Advisers, Insurance Companies, Retailers, florists (ok, I made that last one up, but it’s not impossible) can provide their clients with legal services. External investment. Law firms were run as Partnerships, with partner profits being divided, or pumped back into the business, as the Partners saw fit. Now, you will see external private investors such as TV Dragons and household names (not even Solicitors! Imagine!) investing and owning legal organisations and law firms. This means that there are additional ways of financing expansion and evolution. Partnerships were open to criticism for putting more profit in the Partners’ pockets than invested in the business. No longer. The Future Basically, the Legal Sector is shifting constantly, as new businesses come in and join in the fun and the revenue. As these new challengers feel their way around, it has put heat into the competition, and has given a kick to firms that have buried their heads in the sand and not prepared for these changes. It won’t affect every sector in the same way but couple this sea change with the changes in Legal Aid then this is a seismic shift, a tsunami, if you will. What does it mean in the real world? Put simply, more and more varied opportunities. Some don’t exist yet. So, you may not get growth in the Legal Aid sector (criminal particularly) but ‘High Street’ still exists, just in a very different guise and this guise may still change and evolve. And technology will ensure there are far reaching changes, as competition drives down price, organisations use new advances to streamline and process chunks of legal work and document production . You could be a self-employed Solicitor, if of an entrepreneurial persuasion. You could join a group of ‘virtual’ lawyers who can be based locally or globally, and share client matters online. Flexible working arrives. You could be an employed lawyer working in Tesco, or John Lewis. Who knows. Customer service is paramount, so just being a ‘good lawyer’ is simply not enough, so if you like people as well as the law, you will be a popular addition. Opportunities to be employed by major corporations who prefer to expand their own capability in-house, rather than instruct external lawyers, these are set to increase. And don’t dismiss the world of finance, property, banking, retail, insurance, private wealth or construction to find out where the legal roles lie. The potential is also the problem because this is unchartered water. There is simply no map, so you have to think about opportunities very differently. It is critical to keep informed about what organisations are entering the market â€" you are learning at the same time as anyone else, so what a great time to be ahead of the people who are interviewing you! Read the legal press â€" www.legalfutures.co.uk is useful as a news source about the new landscape. Send your CV off speculatively, chat not only to law firms but to new entrants into the sector. Ask what their firm or organisation will look like 5 years post-Legal Services Act. It’s an impressive question, and many won’t be able to answer exactly â€" because no-one knows. Draw the map, keep your eyes peeled and if you struggle to find traditional opportunities the traditional way, then look differently. You’ll find the future, and probably make it. 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4 Ways Savvy Women Can Break the Glass Ceiling

4 Ways Savvy Women Can Break the Glass Ceiling Women walking into a workplace today experience a very different environment than their mothers and grandmothers did. The past century has seen enormous progress, but there’s still a lot of room to grow. Even today, many women find that their professional growth is limited by the “glass ceiling.” Luckily, like anything else made of glass, glass ceilings can be shattered. If you’re ready to growth hack your career and break through the barriers that are holding you back, it helps to do a couple of things. Here are our top 4 ways savvy women can help themselves break through the glass ceiling: Understand what the glass ceiling is Embrace nontraditional careers and job opportunities Turn frustration into action and empowerment Seek out opportunities to empower other women Women today still face a variety of challenges in the workplace, but none of them are insurmountable. First, What is the Glass Ceiling? A glass ceiling is defined any barrier preventing an individual from reaching the next level of advancement. In these situations, qualified and deserving individuals can see the next stage of advancement, but they are prevented from reaching it by institutional prejudices against their gender, ethnicity, age, or other factors that do not affect their work. Although holding individuals back in this way is illegal, it is still prevalent. In this article, we are specifically discussing the gender-based glass ceiling that women frequently encounter in the workplace. Embrace Nontraditional Job Opportunities Corporate culture and social norms both present huge challenges to women seeking to correct stubborn workplace imbalances. For that reason, one powerful way women can ensure they are fairly compensated for their work is exploring nontraditional and entrepreneurial job opportunities. These opportunities tend to be more flexible, giving women who desire a greater work-life balance or whose responsibilities include child or home care more control over their professional lives. We can see this shift toward flexible, employee-driven work environments in trends like the rise of co-working spaces and in technological innovations that support women who want or need to work outside of a traditional 9-to-5 office setting. Time clock software is a great example of this type of innovation. In recent years, it’s gotten a huge facelift, leaving it very different from the software many of us used to punch in and out of our first high school jobs. Now with time tracking features like facial recognition and smartphone compatibility, employers can use time clock software to schedule projects and organize teams anywhere, anytime. Women don’t have to behave like men to be successful, nor do they have to break other women down to build themselves up. When women work together, glass ceilings shatter. Don’t Just Get Angry Take Action! If you are in a position where you’re encountering a glass ceiling and you aren’t in a position to seek other employment opportunities you might be feeling frustrated, and with good reason. Keep in mind that the most effective way to address workplace inequality is not to simply get angry, it is to use that anger to fuel real change: Take notes. If you notice problems, particularly recurring problems, be sure to take note of what’s going on recording the when, what, and who is essential. Be assertive. If the right people whether that means your boss, HR, or others aren’t listening, find another avenue to create change. Be patient. Your work may be frustrating, but it will not only create more opportunities for you and your coworkers taking action will gradually create a better workplace environment for the women of generations to come as well. Women Supporting Women is How We Will Move Forward Unfortunately, social expectations try to pit women against each other in a variety of situations, and that includes in the workplace. There is a stereotypical model of successful women exhibiting hypermasculine traits to get to the top including be ultra assertive or even aggressive and cutting down competitors to get what they want. In reality, successful women have a variety of different approaches, demographics, cultural values, and behaviors that drive them. Not only does this provide a diverse model of success for young women to aspire to and be inspired by it also creates space for talented, successful women with different skills to help build each other up and help one another grow. Using our power to empower and inspire other women is how we will move forward. The Glass Ceiling is Yours to Break Don’t take injustice sitting down standing up and making your voice heard is one of the most powerful things you can do for yourself and for generations of women to come. Glass ceilings are not unbreakable. In fact when you keep these 4 things in mind, they shatter. What are your strategies for growth hacking your career and for helping other women grow? We’d love to hear from you!

Facebook and Google Takes Online Recruitment to the Next Level

Facebook and Google Takes Online Recruitment to the Next Level Facebook and Google run the world. If they want to get into recruitment marketing, would you bet against them? Facebook has over two billion active users, while Google seemingly has its footprint in everything these days. Now they have entered the recruiting industry aiming to make a major play at the traditional recruiting sites. For the past 20 years, online recruitment marketing has been beneficial to companies’ recruiting strategies, allowing them to reduce the time it took in the hiring process. But they seem to have reached the limit of their ability: Companies are now spending too much money and gaining too little in online recruitment. They need a way to jumpstart recruitment marketing investments. With billions of people using Facebook and Google each day, they hold an immediate advantage over other recruitment sites. Its time to take advantage of Facebook and Google to take online recruitment marketing to the next level. Improved efficiency The tools provided by Facebook and Google allow for much greater efficiency than other websites. The main way to improve efficiency through these mediums is by leveraging the respective capabilities of each network. Roughly 70% of job searches begin on Google. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how this can be used to your advantage â€" go to where the candidates are. Search engine optimization (SEO) can improve both the quantity and quality of a company’s results on Google â€" in fact, a company can obtain dozens of leads in a single day! Facebook’s main benefit is its massive daily user base â€" it’s the biggest talent pool in the world. Simply put, Facebook is a goldmine waiting for companies to fully tap into it. Well-placed marketing campaigns can reach the exact candidates that a company desires, making Facebook an efficient and easy means to attract candidates. Furthermore, Google recently started using its geolocation tool to its advantage, allowing searchers to customize the distance of the job postings in their searches. Facebook also allows this feature, giving users even more flexibility when they are searching for jobs. It has become easier than ever to find candidates within a specific city, state, or country. Capturing engaging candidates Many times, especially with the prevalence of “quick apply” features, candidates applying to a company aren’t very engaged. Some don’t even know much about the company or even the job that they are applying to, resulting in a huge waste of company time and resources. An additional side-effect of unengaged candidates is the trend of “ghosting,” where companies schedule an interview with a candidate and never hear back from them again. With Google, companies can use AI to pre-qualify candidates by reading the job description and screening potential candidates, making sure they are right for the job. This type of candidate search typically results in much more engaged candidates who do their research and are truly interested in the job â€" leading to lower ghosting rates, as well. Automation at a much larger scale Recruiting through Google and Facebook also allows recruiting teams to save much more time than by traditional means. Most recruiting teams are already doing some sort of social media recruiting campaign right now â€" typically through individual, manual efforts or through traditional “paid” banner ads or clicks. However, the true potential of Google and Facebook comes through recruitment automation at a much larger scale. No longer will individual recruiters have to advertise their company at a tailgate with a beer in their hand. As the technology engages with the candidates all recruiters really need to do is connect the pipes and watch as engaged, talented candidates flow to the company’s recruitment team. In addition to SEO optimization and AI candidate qualification, recruiters can use robotic process automation (RPA) to take advantage of the scope of Google and Facebook in order to reach the most people. Automation of more menial tasks frees up time for recruiters to spend their time with strategic tasks that require critical thinking. When Google or Facebook announces they are entering a new industry, the world listens. It may go against what companies think they know about recruitment, but using big tech to their advantage is the best way to get smart about recruitment in the 21st century. Byline: Othamar Gama Filho, CEO at Talentify, a recruitment marketing automation platform