Unconscious Bias Why You Shouldnt Judge at First Glance

Unconscious Bias Why You Shouldnt Judge at First Glance Our unconscious bias can override our ability to make rational decisions. When it comes to business, bias-based decisions and behaviour can limit creativity and opportunity, as well as lead to discrimination â€" all of which can have a significant impact on performance, productivity and the bottom line of a business. First impressions: One of the major contributing factors to bias decision-making is the first impressions formed by people within the first few minutes of meeting them a factor which all of us are susceptible to; rapid categorisation. These thought patterns, assumptions and interpretations â€" or biases have built up over time and help us to process information quickly and efficiently. From a survival standpoint, bias is a positive and necessary trait. We as humans tend to cast people as heroes or villains through visual or social identity, gender and ethnicity. It can be something as simple as what someone wears that can have a powerful impact on what people think about them. Once we have categorised ourselves as part of a group and have identified with   a group we then tend to compare that group with other groups. If our self-esteem is to be maintained our group needs to compare favourably with other groups. This is critical to understanding bias, because once two groups identify themselves as rivals they are forced to compete in order for the members to maintain their self-esteem. Competition and hostility between groups is thus not only a matter of competing for resources like jobs but also the result of competing identities. So you are on the packed Northern Line and the person next to you chooses to eat the smelliest sandwich? They have no regard for others, no self awareness, and slightly overweight; do they really need that sandwich? We all do it â€" we judge: We aren’t trying to be cruel and we would of course be mortified if another person could hear what we are thinking, but that’s not the point â€" the point is that these judgements happen without us even thinking and they affect how we behave and how we arrive at decisions. Move this to a recruitment context I am sure we can all remember an occasion when a candidate walked through the door and we began to make judgements whether it was what they were wearing or what weight or what height they were from the second they walked in they did not have the same chance as the others and their CV suddenly became irrelevant. Can you remember doing that? Statistics speak for themselves; approximately half of HR professionals are biased towards overweight women, whereas only 4% held a bias against slim women (People Management, 2012). On top of this 78% of employers have discriminated against candidates based on their accents. (Personnel Today), It would be no surprise that an increasing number of people make a conscious effort to hide their accents in job interviews. As recruiters we are fairly self aware around issues such as racial bias and we certainly need to do more but the issue is there is less of a focus on broader biases and they are less obvious in nature. We need to develop our consciousness in terms of how our upbringing, the media and our friends can have an impact on the decisions we make. Combating bias: So how do we go about addressing our innate social biases well we could introduce a “blind date” style interview process where you interview without seeing the person that would work wouldn’t it? Or maybe we could develop software that runs or automates the interview process without the need for human interaction. I am aware that some organisations have had real outcomes by removing all demographic information from CVs and job applications submitted for short listing. The truth is in some companies the right qualification from the right education establishment is enough to get you that interview slot why because they are likely to be ‘pro-active, intelligent, switched on, cultured, hard-working, and analytical’ so there seems to be no quick fix, but then culture change is never a quick fix. To really affect a change you need to be open to admitting you think like this and that sometimes I make assumptions which have no basis in facts. However, you shouldn’t feel guilty for this and instead accept responsibility for monitoring your own behaviours and commit consciously to being fair and respectful to everyone you come into contact with. Practice empathy. Imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes and always ask: “Would I think this scenario is fair?” Be an accessible, open communicator. If people feel they can talk to you about sensitive issues, you’ll prevent bias situations from escalating. Author:  Andrew Hyland.  Andrew joined Macmillan Cancer Support in 2011 to develop and implement a new recruitment model. Since joining he has brought the service in house, developed a new team, implemented a new system and developed Macmillan’s career brand in a time of significant growth for the business. You can follow on Twitter @MacRecruitTeam

The 10 Best Resume Templates Youll Want to Download - Classy Career Girl

The 10 Best Resume Templates Youll Want to Download We are all about saving time here at Classy Career Girl! The best way you can save time when it comes to updating your resume and cover letter is starting with  downloading a template, so you dont have to start from scratch! Luckily for you, we have worked with a design team to come up with the best resume templates that youll want to download now. You can either model what you see here and do it yourself,  download 2 of our favorite templates for free now  or  just cut straight to the chase and get all 10 templates and much more in our resume makeover course now. This is for you if you have ever been so utterly frustrated trying to get all your bullets lined up and want to throw your resume in the trash because it looks terrible. The 10 Best Resume Templates Youll Want to Download Now 1. Please Teal Me I am Hired At CCG, we strive to stand out from our competition and we want you to do the same. This is one of our favorites. Now, we dont advise a pink and black resume like our branding at CCG but you can have teal!  Next best thing, right? Stand out and be different. 2. Its All Black and White We love the symmetry of this template, especially the profile and key skills section that stand out.  If we werent career bloggers, we would just write resumes all day long if they look like this one. This resume is perfect for those corporate classy career girls in the conservative environment, but who want a little edge above the rest when it comes to all the other boring resume templates. 3. Never Be  Blue With Me On Your Team Could this scream more, I am the one you need to hire! This is the resume template you need to get your hands on if you are in a creative field and are applying to a startup, an innovative position or for a marketing or branding role. 4. Never a Gray Moment With Me on Your Team This is  a feminine resume  that can work in any type of industry. We love the larger than life LinkedIn profile button for those of you who are killin it on LinkedIn with endorsements and recommendations galore. 5. I Will Not  Beige You To Hire Me Short and sweet. We love this color that stands out from the rest of the black and white resume templates that you will be piled up against. We also love the large profile section to really sell why you are the perfect fit for this position. [RELATED: Writing a Resume The Complete Guide] 6. The Grass Will Be Greener When You Hire Me 7. Ill Keep You Organized If You Hire Me We love the simple and clean organization of this resume. This is for someone who hates clutter and wants to shine by saying truly the most important thingsand that is it.  You dont need to say it all. The key really is for this resume to just say the most important items. Thats why this template stands out from all the rest of the resume templates out there. 8. Monogram Me You are so special that YOU have your own logo and monogram. Treat yourself like a business. You are the real deal and you have to sell yourself so why not logo your name. Thats why we love this one! 9.  Simply Hired Saving the best for last, arent we! This is just easy on the eyes and makes us want to hire you.  This says, simple, classy, hired. 10. The Old Fashioned Simple and clean. This resume template got our CEO and Founder, Anna Runyan, hired many times before she started this company. You can have her exact template that has been reviewed and revised by hundreds of career coaches and executive-level professionals. Rinse and repeat is the name of the game! Seriously, you CAN love your resume with these templates. You can either model what you see here and do it yourself,  download 2 of our favorite templates for free now  or  just cut straight to the chase and get all 10 templates and much more in our resume makeover course now.

13 Ways To Remain Positive Whatever The Situation (INFOGRAPHIC)

13 Ways To Remain Positive Whatever The Situation (INFOGRAPHIC) No matter which industry you work in, there will be some days which really test your ability to stay positive. Whether it’s tight deadlines, difficult colleagues or tricky clients, work throws its daily challenges at us, making it hard to keep a glass-half-full mindset all the time. All of these trickier moments can really chip away at us, building up stress. In fact, according to research by stress.org, 80% of us feel stressed in the workplace and 42% said their coworkers need help to manage stress. Stress can be counter productive to work and as this post from Chron suggests, can even lead to workplace injuries. So, when the going gets tough and it seems like the odds are stacked against you, how do you make sure that you keep upbeat and switched on? One way is to check out this new handy infographic from sleepypeople.com which offers lots of tips on how to approach every day with an enthusiastic mindset. It’s called ‘13 Ways To Remain Positive Whatever The Situation’ and covers everything from keeping a healthy routine to listening to the right kind of music and more. Take a look for yourself below and approach every working day with a glass-half-full mindset!

Employability in the Arts Sector

Employability in the Arts Sector Now a year since studying Museum and Art Gallery Masters degree I have come to a number of affirmations in regards to a career in the arts sector. Alongside completing various unpaid internships and work experience, I find it easy to believe the Guardians’ publication from February 2014 that if you want to get into the arts, it helps to come from a wealthy background to be able to afford the ‘London centric’ costs as well as have some kind of access to the gatekeepers of the privileged clubs.    The economic benefits of visual art in the UK are clear. Over 37,000 people work in the visual arts  sector, bringing an economic contribution of £1.9 billion each year.There are more than 40  million visits to the UK’s galleries and museums a year, including over 7 million by overseas tourists. Source: The VisualArts Blueprint Visual Arts and Galleries                                                                                       Association: Facts and Figures The recent Paying Artists Campaign commissioned by a-n arts reveals how those who work in the arts sector abroad are more valued than here in the UK. Those countries include Canada, Norway, Sweden and Poland. Depending on what path you want to take in the arts, most of them depend on your socio-economic background such as age, sex, class, geography and qualifications. Furthermore, due to changing shifts in attitude towards how we access the arts and its portrayal in the media, the artist and curator have become interchangeable terms, leaving people debating about definitions of the two titles now that more people without a MA in Curating call themselves curators. Since 2009 I have interned at two galleries in London; luckily I lived near but expensive train fares still came from my pocket. Working for free in the private sector left me disillusioned, making art feel like a commodity made for the purpose of corporate collections. I worked at FRIEZE art fair in 2011 and very much felt welcomed into their East London abode just off Shoreditch high street; they happily answered questions I had later on towards my dissertation on corporate collections and sponsorship. One year ago I decided to try make it on my own. I enrolled on an infamous University enterprise scheme to start a not-for -profit arts organisation and decided to do what I love, even if it meant having a different job on the side. Instead of making profit, I decided giving back was the better option, so people would never assume I was in it to exploit others in such a small art scene in the Midlands. As a result, its given me experience in curating, project and artist management and even the basics of running a business. I’ve also met more down to earth people with art at the heart of their interests, making a living selling prints and zines. That underground world is where you find the most cutting edge art, the undiscovered with lots of potential such as Triple OG in Nottingham. I think the motto that resounds in my head in regards to our generation is that we have to start being the producers rather than consumers. Coming from an arts background, you are a bit different to everyone else. You dont follow mainstream trends or think you belong in a marketing or PR job because being in ‘the arts’ means knowing who went to Goldsmiths in the 1990’s and knowing which gallery they are represented by today. The arts are treated quite separately to other industries because the market is not always easy to predict and times are getting harder with cuts being made to local authorities, whereas the private art sector is booming worldwide. I think this says a lot about our world today, much like Huxley’s Brave New World predicted, globalisation struggles to celebrate difference and individuality and no one cares about inter-contextual references anymore, at least thats what it feels like. One consistent factor in a bid to gain a job in the arts sector is much like any other: it is probably about who you know and contacts you make. The best place to start however, is by doing your own research, and I mean serious research. For example, what not-for-profit organisations are in your area, are they involved in cutting edge contemporary or digital arts? What online blogs do you read the most and could you write for them? Nothing can be more awkward than setting foot into a contemporary art exhibition without knowing anyone and feel like people are a little intimidating, but if you want to learn you need to know the subject or step out of your comfort zone to mingle. There are so many organisations and collectives popping up in the country and successfully receiving funding with enough teamwork and effort, but its a fact they still need to support themselves with another income. My advice is to be realistic. You can be as optimistic or career driven as you wish to be as your situation could be far different from mine. I believe that as long as I am always in touch with the creative industry whether through writing, researching or curating my own exhibition, that is what matters. So far in 2014 I have written for Nottingham Visual Arts Magazine and started blogging regularly for Prowl House, a emerging arts publication promoting humanistic values. I have also hosted two exhibitions with my organisation Nineteen Degrees and we supported numerous events with live art, thus supporting local young artists from Leicester. We need to make sure the arts dont die or become more gentrified. The digital arts is what’s happening now, involving people from scientific and technological backgrounds rather than traditional art and craft. Museums may now give way to become large arts centres such as the new Birmingham Library. This means a loss of jobs but it doesnt always mean lack of opportunities, even if you have to create your own. Find your angle on the world or in the arts and do something about it, but just remember to be human about it. There are social enterprise schemes out there and organisations such as Somewhere_To offering free spaces for people under 25, and of course like most things in life, its about timing and luck.

How to Make the Most of Your Career in the Hospitality Industry - CareerMetis.com

How to Make the Most of Your Career in the Hospitality Industry Photo Credit- Pixabay.comThe hospitality business seeks thousands of people to recruit, every year, since it is one of the most sought after careers. When a field has so much of competition, it becomes double as hard to achieve success. But with the right amount of dedication, sincerity, and passion, nothing is impossible.Hospitality is a much disciplined field, where rules are meant to be followed and there is a need for a certain kind of skill set and attitude. Success has a lot to do with the quality of your service/product, first impressions of the customer, and how prepared you are too face crises situations. People who graduate after doing various hospitality courses are especially trained to face such situations.In the hospitality industry, the first rule you need to remember is that the customer is the soul of the business. When a hospitality business interacts with a customer, it’s usually when a customer wants to relax and is spending money for the same. In such a case, t he customer is looking for services which are on the money and so, it is extremely vital that you make a good first impression on your customers, as that will get them to recommend your services to other people.evalA satisfied customer is the best advertisement testimonial. Every customer comes with a different mindset, and it is your primary goal to make them feel like you are a reliable business.After you finish graduating from a hospitality course, a hospitality aspirant’s primary goal should be to gather work experience in the field. Your on-field training and work experience will be your biggest asset in the field of hospitality.As an employee at a luxury hotel or resort, you will be expected to maintain good relations with the customers as you’ll be interacting with them directly.When we think of hospitality, one thing that always comes to mind is teamwork. Without teamwork, the entire organization of the company could fall apart and thus, if you’re an employee, make sur e to bond well with your colleagues in order to maintain a good work environment.Maintaining positivity around your workstation will pay off. If you have a team that is working under you, make sure to encourage them to bond. A team should be like a well-oiled machine, since there is no space for minor glitches and misunderstandings in the hotel business. Remember to reward and appreciate a team in order to encourage them. A good leader empowers the team for them to work well.The hospitality market is really wide and thus, it is important to segregate the market to understand your competitors better. The most practical thing to do when you want to succeed is to know and understand your competitors better, keep a track of ways to improve your resources and make it more cost-efficient.Understand what your customers want through surveys and other forms of research and also understand what your competitors are doing right and what you can improve on. Always be open to criticism, because nobody is perfect. Every customer’s feedback is going to help you in the long run, whether positive or negative.evalIn hospitality, you can never predict what new crisis may come about, so it is always good to be prepared for any kind of emergencies. For example, on a busy day when a lot of guests are supposed to be checking in, it is easy to predict that the front desk is going to be crowded with guests, in such a case, it is important to be prepared with more staff stationed at the front desk. Quick-thinking and preparedness will take you a long way in the Hotel Business.

Thousands of Entry Level Jobs - CareerAlley

Thousands of Entry Level Jobs - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Long-range planning works best in the short term Doug Evelyn One of the brand new, just out of school guys that I work with is always asking questions about how to get ahead, should he get his MBA, what types of jobs should he be doing 5 years from now, how does he prepare for becoming a manager. All of these are great questions and he is asking them as part of his long term plan. But if you think about it, he is asking them in the short term as part of his long term plan (I know, this sounds crazy, but think about it). Your job search is much the same. Every choice you make will lead you to where you are ultimately going. Some will feel wrong, and some will be perfect, but every step is the short term of your long term plan. Now about those Thousands of jobs, yes, thousands of jobs. In fact, probably 10s of thousands of jobs. I love running these posts every few months because it gets everyones attention. But, its not just an attention getter, there really thousand of jobs out there, so take a look. Hotjobs.com There were 8,353 entry level jobs (when I checked) from one of the best known job search boards. Use this search link and then adjust the criteria on the left hand side of the screen to match your criteria for city, job categories, jobs by company and more. There are additional resources at the bottom left hand side of the screen (very bottom of the page) for resumes, interviewing, salary and more. Job.com Where else would you start your search but with a job search board with a name like this! More than 1,000 entry level jobs from this site. Use the search within these results box at the top to refine your search and you can save your specialized searches as well. There are additional resources on the right hand side of the screen as well as at the bottom of the page. CareerRookie.com This site specializes in entry level jobs, but using that criteria returned more than 300 entry level jobs when I checked. You can narrow your search by using the keywords or other criteria at the top of the page. Below this are additional selection criteria like category, company, city and state. Top of the page has links for resources like resumes, advice and more. Monster College Monster.coms college site had more than 1,130 entry level jobs when I checked the site (and over 2,000 entry level jobs if you searched on this criteria from Monster.com). This site is also geared to college and entry level job seekers and has links at the top of the page for career advice, hired 101, forums and more. SimplyHired.com This site is different from most of the others as it searches across companies and other job boards. There were over 3,000 entry level jobs when I checked the site. Filters are on the left hand side of the page as well as keyword refinement options. Top of the page has links for local jobs, salary trends and employment trends. Save your searches here too. Indeed.com Hard to believe, but the entry level search on this site returned more than 77,000 entry level jobs (sounds like a lot to me). Similar to some of the other job search sites, you can refine your search by putting a location in at the top, or use one of the many refinements on the left hand side of the page. Top of the page has links for forums, salaries and trends. Good luck in your search.

Writing Smart Resume - Take the First Step

Writing Smart Resume - Take the First StepIf you're like many other people out there, you're looking for a good strategy to writing a smart resume. Some of the methods you've heard of include keyword research, resume stuffing, and even plagiarism. There are also free resources available that can help you write a good resume for yourself.A smart resume is your way to stand out from the crowd. It will let the hiring manager know that you are more than just another candidate that could have been qualified.You want your smart resume to get noticed by the hiring manager. The more information they have about you, the better they will feel when making a decision.One of the best ways to create a smart resume is to start with your educational background. Start with your high school, or the colleges you attended. The resume you put together should be relevant to the position you are applying for. Include all of the important information in the information section.Before you get started, make s ure you know what the position is you are applying for. Also take a look at the competition for the position. Look at the skill sets required to do the job and go from there.Always keep in mind that the skill set for any position is different. Don't over think things or get upset because you think you can't do a particular job. Always remember that your resume is a good place to start, but it's not the end all.Make sure you look at your resume before writing your first draft. This will help you avoid future rejection from your resume. You may be tempted to rush the process, but don't.Onceyou've written your smart resume, send it to the person that will be reading it. Don't give them any reason to reject you if they really like your resume. Following these steps can be very helpful.