3 Businesses That Have Nailed Their Company Culture

3 Businesses That Have Nailed Their Company Culture Company culture can have a huge impact on the happiness, productivity and performance of your employees, so its important to do whatever you can to create a culture that suits the nature and needs of your business and your staff. The company culture is made up of everything from the way you communicate and act on your company values, to the atmosphere in the workplace and the people working there. Though certain factors cannot be controlled entirely, for example how well colleagues get along with each other, there are a few things you can do to ensure it is a great place to work. From employee perks, to freedom and responsibility at work,  employers are going to all means to make sure their employees are happy. Here are 5 companies who are doing it particularly well: The Walt Disney Company: Its every childs dream to work at Disney, but does it live up to their wild imaginations? Ok, well unfortunately they dont all work out of Cindarellas castle, but its still a pretty magical place to work! Not only do employees get to be part of one of the most recognisable brands in the world, they also get to work in one of the friendliest communities in the world. If youre someone who  finds people who are ALWAYS happy a bit nauseating, Disney may not be the ideal workplace for you; however if this is right up your street then sign up! Disney only hire people who align with their values of innovation, quality, community, storytelling, optimism, and decency. Some of the benefits of working at Disney include access to  Mickey’s Retreat, which is an exclusive area accessible only to Cast Members and their families; generous discounts on Disney parks, hotels and merchandise; incentive schemes;  healthcare and much more! Nike: Just do it isnt just Nikes  brand slogan, but also the mantra they instil in their employees to ensure they are engaged in their roles! Nike encourages their employees to push themselves to their limits and uncover their potential. They want to provide their staff with the opportunities for  personal development  and have an online platform for employee training and development in areas such as merchandising, retail, leadership and management. In keeping with their brand Nikes benefits program focuses on enabling  employees to stay fit, ensure the wellness of their families and create a positive working environment. Benefits include onsite sports facilities including: gymnasiums with regular classes, football pitches, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, running tracks and on-site physiotherapists; health insurance; product discounts and many more! Twitter: You hear a lot about the fancy employee perks and high-energy  company cultures of some of the top tech firms and Twitter lives up to the rep! As one of the largest global tech firms, Twitter boasts an innovative and transparent  culture, that is full of individuals who are passionate about their work andthe business. Despite the vast size of the company, like their product does for the general public, Twitter make sure that every single employee has a voice and contributes to the progression of the company. Their mission is to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers The cool office and chilled out atmosphere of the company are a couple of factors that keep employees sweet and one particular employee remarked on Glassdoor about how fun meetings are on Twitters fully kitted out rooftop garden. As you would imagine, Twitter also offer some pretty cool employee perks including onsite gyms, free catering, healthcare, laundy service and allotted work time for charity projects, to name a few! [Top Image Credit: Shutterstock]

Military Careers and Women The Forces Need You!

Military Careers and Womenâ€" The Forces Need You! There has been a major push recently for organisations to meet their targets when it comes to equality in recruitment. The military has traditionally been a male-dominated organisation, so great efforts are being made to change that. Here are just a few of the military careers for women, from the perspective of Great Britain.   There are equivalent opportunities in the U.S. and other countries. MI6 Ever considered working in intelligence? Well, MI6 are targeting women and minorities in their first ever TV ad for recruitment. The advert is brief, and shows a young mother taking her son to the aquarium. This is certainly no James Bond, MI6 are clear trying to attract a broader spectrum of applicants. Chief of MI6, Alex Younger, said that he wanted to stop potential candidates from ruling themselves out from applying. MI6 have already won awards for their work towards equal opportunities, but they need to do more; perhaps why they are relaxing their entrance criteria and claiming that the right skills and shared values are the most important quality. The ad is specifically targeted at recruiting Military Intelligence Officers, which is open to applicants with 4+ GCSE’s and between the ages of 17 and 33. Following an initial 14-week military training program, you’ll go on to complete 15 weeks of intelligence-specific training. The role of intelligence officer is a varied one, that includes international travel. The starting salary is £15k during training, which rises to £26k on completion of all training.   To learn more or apply, visit this site. But there are other roles also available within Mi6 including HR, business support services and science technology. You can learn more about these opportunities here. Gurkhas This 200-year-old regiment is opening its doors to applications from women next year and hopes to have the first female trainees by 2020. There are currently 3,000 Gurkhas, and the plan is to increase that number by 800. However, the regiment is not altering its recruitment process for women; the test will still include a race to carry 55lbs of sand, held in a basket on your head, three miles up hill. The opportunity is seen as a golden ticket amongst the Nepalese, with the salary of £18,000 per year also assuring them a British Passport and a pension. The recruitment process is not the standard for the UK Military, it involves visiting Pokhara and attempting the physical challenge; amongst thousands of hopefuls, just a handful will be chosen to join the regiment whose motto is, ‘Better to die than to be a coward.’ Navy The Royal Navy are also targeting women in their latest recruitment video. Like Mi6, they’ve chosen a young woman of colour to spearhead their campaign that puts a spin on the idea that a woman’s place is in the home. While you might immediately thing of ‘sailor’ as a role within the navy, there are actually more than 100 different roles available in the vast organisation. Admin, tech support, healthcare, catering and more are all required to keep the navy operational. And you don’t need to be enlisted, there are also many civilian roles that work alongside the navy. Pay for ratings (non-officer roles) are similar to those offered by Mi6 with paid training stating at around £15k per year. Following promotion, this could increase to almost £50k over the course of your career. The Bonus of Equality Companies and organisations know that there are definite benefits to hiring more diversely, but that also opens up new opportunities for us, as candidates. While the military is not everyone’s chosen career path, there are a number of non-combat roles in all fields which offer job security and promotion potential. It’s definitely worth considering! Sarah Dixon writes for Inspiring Interns, which specialises in finding candidates their perfect  graduate jobs. To browse our  internships London listings, visit our website.

The Personal Branding Content Lifecycle - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

The Personal Branding Content Lifecycle - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career To create a credible and influential personal brand requires that you create remarkable content. Here is a flow chart that details the different stages of the personal branding content life cycle. Use it to help you understand the different stages and how to use each stage more effectively as you create the brand called you. Create Content: Creating content is the first step in the content life cycle. Content can be blog posts, interviews, video blog posts, mash-ups, wikis, podcasts, eBooks, webinars, linkfests, etc. We live in a world that is thirsty for great content. If you want to get ahead with your personal brand you need to see yourself in the business of creating content regardless of what industry you are in. There is a market for everything and eyeballs waiting for their attention to be grabbed. Promote and Share: Once you have created some content it is time to promote and share it with others. There is a fine line between being too self promotional and not promotional enough. Toe the line and worst comes to worst you make a few mistakes along the way. Learn from these mistakes and get better. A good method to follow is to promote other peoples work more than yours; you will be surprised how much free exposure this gets you in the long run as your presence grows. Monitor and Analyze How are you going to know which type of content is doing the best if you don’t monitor and analyze it? There are some great free and paid tools out there that can help you gain insight into what it resonating with your readers and what is off the mark. You need to be analyzing your content so that over time you can realize and take advantage of the trends. Iterate and Evolve: Content gets better over time as you make changes and get better at creating content. Nothing great has ever been built in a day without mistakes. Always be iterating and experimenting so you can find what works best. Strive to constantly improve your content and personal brand and you will create something very valuable over time. Remember your personal brand is an asset that can increase or decrease in value over time.   It is up to you which way your asset value goes. Create Leverage: When you are seen as a part of the community and have built up a credible personal brand you can then take advantage of leverage. You can begin using your blog as a springboard to start doing guest blog posts on influential blogs. You can then leverage this to start speaking on panels or doing webinars. You can leverage relationships with others to co-author books and projects. When you start applying leverage with your personal brand you gain lift, more exposure, and your stock begins to rise quickly. You are crossing the chasm. What do you think of the Personal Branding Content Lifecycle? Was it helpful? Did I miss anything here?   Please share your comments. Author: Chad Levitt is the author of the New Sales Economy blog, which focuses on how Sales 2.0 Social Media can help you connect, create more opportunities and increase your business. Chad is also the featured Sales 2.0 blogger at SalesGravy.com, the number one web portal for sales pros, the professional athletes of the business world. Make sure to connect with him on Twitter @chadalevitt.

4 Things Every Female Entrepreneur Should Do This Year -

4 Things Every Female Entrepreneur Should Do This Year - New year, same to-do list. Although we replace our calendars, the concerns of small business owners are very much the same year to year: Make sure your business is cash flow positive, and that you’re generating enough revenue to stay that way. That’s not going to change with the dawn of this new year, sure. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t bring a fresh outlook. That part’s up to you. This year, consider setting the bar higher for yourself with better goals and a few big-picture changes. Not only will your business targets stay top of mind, but you will also begin setting yourself up for better success down the line. Set real goals. This might seem trite, or at least tired. But that’s only if you make it so. This year, when you’re looking at your numbers and deciding what direction to take, consider putting in place a system of goals like OKRsâ€"“objectives and key results”â€"that are supposed to be, in part, unattainable. These highly measurable, methodical goals are supposed to be so challenging that you’re expected to miss about a third of them. If you’re hitting every single one of your goals, then they’re not hard enough. Push yourself for major, quantifiable achievement to see real growth and challenge yourself. Major companies, including Google, use these, and you can, too. Expand your network. For female entrepreneurs especially, networking is paramount to success. Women need to support each other in a world in which men dominate the top ranks of companies and organizations. Create an item on your checklist to expand your professional networking circle by doing oneâ€"or more!â€"of the following: Join a local trade association Join an industry-specific group Look for a local female entrepreneur meetup Attend a conference or workshop for female entrepreneurship Start your own networking coffee group If you’re unsure of where to start, the SBA offers a number of internal organizations aimed at helping women entrepreneurs. The Office Of Women’s Business Ownership offers training, counseling, and access to credit and funding, especially for economically disadvantaged women. These are, of course, only ideas to get the wheels turning. If you have your own idea or can think of another opportunity, pursue it! Advocate for yourself. Can you think of a situation in either your business or personal life in which you wish you’d spoken up more to get your desired outcome? If you can’t, you’re probably not thinking hard enough. It’s an unfortunate truth that women don’t have nearly the resources that men do in businessâ€"and that goes even more for women of color. If you’d like to apply for a grant but aren’t sure you should, submit your application. If you aren’t sure that you’re qualified for business funding, apply (especially because, statistically, women apply for funding less than men). And if you’d like to find a mentor but you’re shy, push yourself.  You’ll be glad you did, and you will reap the rewards. For instance, women are statistically more likely to see higher returns from mentorship than men so if you haven’t found a mentor, this is the year you should. Get an outside perspective. Even the most experienced businesswomen need help seeing things that they simply can’t. Your business is your life, your baby, your everything. There’s nothing wrong with you if you’re too “in” it to see flaws. It’s just the nature of how perspective works. The savvy choice, however, is making a commitment to having someone help you take the step back that you can’t yourself. This year, ask for outside perspective on a piece of your companyâ€"your business plan, your financials, a new product launchâ€"if not the entire thing. Perhaps you’ll be able to miss an obvious oversight or be turned onto a market nuance that only an experienced entrepreneur could add. Either way, the advice could change the trajectory of your business this year. *** As you’ve probably figured out by now, this list is as much about growing your business as it is about growing yourself. And that makes a lot of sense. As a female entrepreneur, your business is you and you are your business (within reason, of courseâ€"don’t forget to disconnect a little!). The more you know and develop as an individual, the more you’ll be able to strategically do the same to the company that you’re building, no matter the stage you’re in. With that in mind, when the clock strikes midnight to mark the New Year, kick those business resolutions into high gear. When you look back at all you’ve accomplished, you’ll find much to be proud ofâ€"from all angles. This guest post was authored by Meredith Wood. Meredith Wood is the Editor-in-Chief at  Fundera, an online marketplace for small business loans that matches business owners with the best funding providers for their business. Specializing in financial advice for small business owners, Meredith is a current and past contributor to Yahoo!, Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, SCORE, AllBusiness and more.

Writing a Resume For Sales Position

Writing a Resume For Sales PositionWriting a resume for sales position is a must if you are in the industry. It is required to present yourself well. It's also the first thing a potential employer notices about you. So if you want to get noticed, prepare your resume for sales position well.In order to be successful in writing a resume for a sales position, it's important to have good knowledge about business. Sales professionals are expected to know how to present themselves well and they must have solid knowledge about their field.When a sales person writes a resume, they should keep in mind the same things that would make them a successful one. Make sure that your resumes include all the important details such as objective, purpose of employment, skills, responsibilities, years of experience, educational qualifications, and references that are credible.Know the value of skills. If you don't have any skills, write down the ones that you do have and put them at the end of your resume .References. You must provide references that are credible. You may ask your former colleagues, friends or family members to add some references.Your objective. Be clear about what your objective is.Background information. Be sure to put the latest academic degrees, diplomas, certificates, professional organizations, and recommendations that you have. In order to write a resume for a sales position, you must know your strengths and weaknesses.If you can follow these tips, you will definitely have a greater chance of getting a job when writing a resume for a sales position. You can apply for ajob after knowing how to write a resume for a sales position and making an impression on your potential employer.

Buyer Trust What Consumers Need To Know When Investing In Résumé Services - Pathfinder Careers

Buyer Trust What Consumers Need To Know When Investing In Résumé Services - Pathfinder Careers Buyer Trust: What Consumers Need To Know When Investing In Résumé Services We have all been down that road before:  That moment when we realized that we were duped.   If you haven’t ever had someone pull a fast one on you before, then count yourself either extremely lucky or completely street-wise. But for the rest of us, being burned once makes us doubly careful the next time. I’m running into this as people who have been to other so-called résumé writers bounce over to me. They arrive after everything falls apart, yet it was clear that they failed to see the warning signs from the get-go. Here are some quick tips to consumers so they are more savvy when selecting a career partner to work with on an important project: No one (except an employer) can promise you a job.   Some writers offer guarantees for interviews, but those and jobs are not something that a résumé writer has any kind of control over. The writer isn’t in charge of your job search and quite frankly, they don’t know what you do with your résumé once they send it to you, and they don’t know the types of jobs you are using it as an application. Proceed with caution if the writer is promising you showers of job offers! If they are reputable, you’ll find them on more than just their own website.   Career industry professionals are engaged in their community, give back, and can be found quickly (and frequently) with multiple results on the first page of Google. Don’t expect a good quality document to be cheap.   The résumé that are going to be the most help in your job search aren’t the $35 “deals” found on Craigslist and other billboard sites.    Good quality writers are constantly educating themselves on emerging trends to make sure that the documents they produce are on-target to meet employer needs. And that means that they are investing in themselves (by going to industry conferences as well as gaining certification)s just as you are investing in them.   Remember: you get what you pay for! Résumé writers are not a “typing service.”    The reason why so many people stumble over writing their own career documents is because it IS difficult.   While résumé writers do this day in and day out, it also takes time to digest the information you provide, and that goes far beyond just a “typing” service.   Digging into your background, uncovering the bullets, then framing up the accomplishments in a way that appeals to employers is a specialized skill. It’s so much more than simply “typing something up.” High-integrity writers respond right away.   If you have emailed or called and don’t hear back within a reasonable time, either they are too busy or aren’t particularly anxious to get your business.    Or, if they are cagey about the process, you might want to look elsewhere. Pricing is up front. You can expect a sales process with the writer, but pricing should never be a “moving” target.  Writers who have integrity will be specific on what you are investing in, and that should not change. You should be a satisfied customer.  Conscientious writers are out to win your trust. They want your project to end on a positive note and will make sure your needs are met.  After all, savvy business owners know that happy clients will tell their friends and family. Sabrina Baker, a noted HR professional with Acacia HR Solutions, also talks about how to select a job search partner in her two-part blog on this topic:  Part 1 and Part 2. Keep these factors in mind, and you’ll have a much better experience as a result, as well as a fabulous new résumé!

Is Arena a lap - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Is Arena a lap - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog One of the many fascinationg people Ive met at the Practice of Peace conference is Max Gail, who runs an organization called lap. This is based on the metaphor of a lap. We all have one, and it is, among other things, wher our kids sit to hear a story or to feel safe. So what is a community lap? According to Max, its a computer-empowered, creativity inspiring, consensus building community communication center or network. Does that sound like Arena? It does to me: Imagine a lap for small businesses, where people can network, innovate, hear and tell stories, learn and recharge their batteries. That could be Arena, and I think it ties in nicely with the idea of a third place, outside of home and work. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related