You might question this by saying “Interns are only around for six months, at the most. Why put all this effort into finding ‘the right one?’” To which I would say that you’re correct: an intern is typically only around for the length of a semester or maybe a little longer—which is why you should seek to maximize the time … Read More
The Skills Gap: Four Things You Need to Know
What is the skills gap? The skills gap is the oncoming—or, in some cases, already here—gap between the skills current employees have and the skills they’ll actually need to perform a job skill they actually need to perform a job well.” or “skills they’ll actually need to perform a job well in the future. Many industries are soon to find … Read More
How Micro-Credentials Can Shape the Future Workforce
We’ve talked before about how digital credentials like badges can be a wonderful alternative to a traditional college education, something that might not be an option for all people. The business world has already started to adopt digital badges to help upskill their workforces, with tech giants like Google and Salesforce having their own internal badging strategies. Many colleges too, … Read More
How to Choose Between Two Perfect Candidates
Two applicants stand before you, each a great addition to your team in their own way. But unfortunately, you only have the room and budget to hire one. How can you make your decision in a fair and equitable way that will also help you decide which person would be the best fit for your team? It starts with thinking … Read More
Why Employers Need to Change the Way They Interview
For such a critical part of the hiring process, the way that we interview candidates is dreadfully outdated. The interview process is woefully unstandardized, allowing for bias and unimportant factors to end up making the real judgment call on who gets hired and who doesn’t. But not for long! Like many things, changes to “the way things are done” are … Read More
Three Things You’ll Only Learn From a Pre-Hire Assessment
Resumes are an incredibly limited form of hiring. It’s convenient to have all the best aspects of a candidate boiled down to a sheet of paper, but how much does the data on a resume tell you? You learn where they previously worked, but not how well they worked. You learn where they went to school but not if they … Read More
With Free Tuition, What Happens to Digital Credentials?
Currently, the expense of a traditional college education is the major deterrent for those who are considering attending a university. Student loans can be exceptionally predatory and all-expense-paid grants or scholarships are the exceptions, not the rule. Because of the inflated cost of a college education, many job seekers have turned to digital badges as a form of educational credentials … Read More
How to Inform a Prospective Employer About Digital Badges
Let’s engage in a hypothetical situation: you’re in an interview for your dream job. The person interviewing you is the person who will make the final decision. They like you, but they have one sizable concern based on your resume: you lack the “required” educational experience for the role. Now, you might not have the degree that this employer is … Read More
3 Tips for Managing a Hybrid Workforce
It’s anticipated that soon, as much as 50% of the American workforce will, in some form, be working remotely—and that’s a lot, but it doesn’t account for all employees. Most companies will not go entirely virtual, but rather adopt a hybrid model that will allow for both remote and on-location work. How this split will happen is down to the … Read More
Digital Badges: 5 Industries You Can Break Into Through Badging
The average cost of a year of college education in the United States is currently a little over $20,000—bringing it up to about $85,000 for the standard, four-year degree. It’s because of rising costs that many students are locked out of higher education; unable to receive highly sought-after scholarships and unwilling to take on a high amount of sometimes predatory … Read More
Digital Badges and Digital Certifications: What’s the Difference?
So, you’re thinking of going after some digital credentials to expand your skills repertoire and go after a much-desired promotion. Or, perhaps, you don’t have a college degree, but you do have the skills to make it in an emerging industry where you would excel. Digital credentials like badges and certifications are becoming more and more popular for both job … Read More
Are Diversity Initiatives Really Working?
Frequently in today’s news, we’ll hear about massive companies unveiling diversity initiatives meant to promote equal and more inclusive hiring practices. These are, on the surface, good things. But when you dig a little deeper, how much of these grand announcements are coming from a place of genuine understanding about the need for diversity in the workforce, and how much … Read More
A Digital Badge Could Be the Beginning of Your Career
The cost of formal education is increasing. As of 2020, only 33% of Americans graduate from college, with the rising expenses cited as the foremost reason that students don’t complete their education. Sooner or later—and it’s looking like sooner, if the predictions of a skills gap epidemic by 2030 turn out to be true—the lack of accessibility to education will … Read More
The 3 Ways to Build a Diverse Workforce That Everyone Ignores
When you think of somebody who is diverse, what do you think of? Chances are you pictured somebody of a different race, right? This isn’t a coincidence—we’re shaped by the media that we consume, and the media typically, and unfortunately, uses “diverse” and “person of color” interchangeably. But does being Black or Asian automatically make you “diverse”? People may share … Read More
Will Summer Vacation Ruin Your Employee’s Productivity?
It’s summer vacation. The sun is out, the kids are home, and your employees are working from home. The days of having the summers off are far in the past and they’ve still got the same amount of work to accomplish, whether the kids are home or not. What is this going to do for their productivity? When we choose … Read More
5 Simple Facts You Need to Know About Badges
If you’re in the hiring sphere, you’ve no doubt been hearing a lot about digital badges. They’re becoming increasingly common as the cost of college rises and people more frequently pursue new careers mid-life. So what are they? Essentially, a digital badge is proof of a demonstrated skill. If you want to prove you’re an expert in Photoshop, you can … Read More
Are you ready for the Future of HR?
The world we live in is rapidly changing. As our lives change, inevitably so does the way that we work. Employees are now able to be more connected than ever, but also more distant than ever at the same time. Sound confusing? As HR professionals, it’s our job to foster a healthy environment for our workforce, no matter where they’re … Read More
Is Workforce Discrimination Sabotaging Your Business?
Nobody wants to admit to being biased, and yet we all are. The common perception is that recognizing our biases will help us avoid them and in a way, that’s true, but recognition is only half of the work. The second half is purging that bias from not only yourself but your environment. But it’s not always easy to spot. … Read More
Bias Can Cost You Big Time: How To Remove Bias from your Workplace
Hidden bias is the spectre that haunts the workplace—many of us can see it, but it’s effects on workers from marginalized backgrounds is very real. Nearly 50% of black and latina women say they have been mistaken for custodians, even if they were in positions of power within the company. Employees over six feet have been shown to earn more … Read More
5 Tips for Being a Productive Remote Employee
If your workplace is one of the many that are opting to go fully digital, the transition to working entirely from home is going to be a big one for you. After all, how can you possibly remain as laser-focused and highly productive from the comfort of your home office—or if you’re like some of us, your couch. Working from … Read More
