5 Tips to Help You Build an Empowered Open Office Culture from Scratch

5 Tips to Help You Build an Empowered Open Office Culture from Scratch This article is sponsored by Dropbox, see their  open positions here. It’s been just over a year since I was handed the keys to Dropbox’s brand new UK Office in central London. I walked into our then tiny, empty space with the two main components of my mission at the front of my mind: Build a team (from scratch) capable of developing and scaling Dropbox Business in the UK Build an office culture representative of the inclusive values which the company lives by. It’s been an eventful, challenging, and (thankfully!) enjoyable 18 months. Today, I’m proud to be able to walk through our new-and-improved London office and see a full Enterprise sales division, a Marketing team, Corporate Communications, Human Resources, Channel/Partnerships, Professional Services (and more besides). This headcount growth is great, but I’m even more proud of the solid cultural foundations we have built and continued to develop. I’d love to share with you how we did it… 1. Understand and believe in your company values. I mean really understand and believe them! Let’s be clear from the start: building an office culture from scratch is not easy. It takes a lot of thought and an unwavering level of commitment from all involved. When being tasked with founding a new office for a company, you’re being trusted with the most valuable thing an organisation possesses: its core values. You are both ambassador and evangelist of these values and the buck stops with you and your initial team. When considering taking on a ‘build from scratch’ project, you really must do your cultural due diligence. Getting to really understand a company’s values and deciding if you truly believe in them is paramount. As one of the first feet on the ground in a new region, you can’t fake it. In my case at Dropbox, the values of be humble and we, not I resonated straight away. I knew I could get behind these values and that I was genuinely excited about building a team that would bring them to life and not just a group of capable ‘individuals’. 2. Pull together a strong landing team and empower them to prioritise hiring The landing team (in other words, the first three or four people hired to set up the office with you) is vital to the success of the office’s cultural growth. Ideally, one or two members of this landing team will be transfers from HQ to your new office and will have a deep understanding of your company values. The bonds that you have with this initial team will be strong: you’ll spend a lot of time together in close-quarters, you’ll learn from them and they’ll learn from you. You’ll be experiencing a near-constant level of ambiguity throughout your first few months together, it’ll be challenging and exhilarating in equal measure. You must ensure two main things when thinking about this landing team: You all value working in an environment in which trust and transparency are non-negotiable. As crazy as it might sound (especially when you have big targets to hit), you must empower your landing team not to focus solely on their core roles. The most important job a new landing team has, is to hire a great team and set the office up for long-term success. That’s your priority and it should be theirs too. 3. Understand that hires 5 through 10 in a new office are the most important you’ll ever make Employees number 5 through 10 in a new office really do have the power to make or break a culture, so build the most calibrated and compromise-averse interview panel that you can.  And don’t take your foot off the gas once you hire your landing team. Bring in the wrong “next five” members of your team and your office culture will change irreparably for the worse. The biggest nightmare for any Hiring Manager is to bring on board an initial team of Culture A-Players and then have this strong initial culture diluted with Culture B- or C-Players. After all, why would an A-Player want to stay in a team of Bs and Cs? When hiring: if in doubt, don’t do it. How do you avoid making costly mis-hires? If you’ve empowered your landing team to spend time performing crucial recruiting tasks, then that’s a great start. Next, make sure you do the following: Build an interview panel involving your landing team and cross-functional stakeholders from other parts of the business and other locations (video conference interviews are no longer the disasters they once were) Hold a kick-off meeting with your recruiting team and the entire interview panel. Make sure every interviewer knows the ins-and-outs of the process and the exact requirements of the role for which you’re hiring. Each interviewer should have a specific task to complete in the interview process (perhaps they’ll be testing for hard role-related skills, or maybe they’ll be assessing how a candidate measures up against a specific company value). Having the whole team totally prepared and calibrated before the first candidates come in to meet you is essential and saves a lot of time! 4. Focus on diversity in all its forms A team that can only approach a challenge with the same pair of eyes will not get very far. To build an inclusive culture, it’s imperative to hire a team of people with a broad set of life and professional experiences under their belts. Prioritise gender diversity, too, and then work together as a team to foster a culture in which colleagues can rely on each other to provide diverse insights and support, when needed. Every company craves this, so why not strive to make it a reality? 5. Be humble. Build a team of people who are willing and excited to roll up their sleeves and do the less glamorous stuff Regardless of the size or status of the company you’ve joined, if you’re part of a brand new office then life won’t be glamorous. You’re now part of a start-up within a larger company, so you’ll have to get used to living the start-up life. You and your initial team will be caretakers, receptionists, office managers, fridge-stockers, IT maintenance, flatpack-furniture-builders and everything in between. Building a team with a humble enough attitude to be willing and excited to roll up their sleeves and put the extra work is key. You and the team must leave your egos at the door: that’s non-negotiable. Building a collaborative, happy, and inclusive office culture doesn’t happen overnight. There will never be a one-size-fits-all guide on how to achieve cultural harmony from scratch in a new office, but believing deeply in your own company values and following the above steps will hopefully be a good place to start. Want to join Dropbox? Check out our  open roles. Mark van der Linden is Managing Director for Dropbox in the UK. He leads the London office’s day-to-day operations, overseeing sales, marketing, and partnerships. Image: Shutterstock.

Pros and Cons of Using Professional Resume Writing Services

Pros and Cons of Using Professional Resume Writing ServicesThere are many types of resume writing services available in the market these days, and it is up to you to choose the one that can match your professional requirements. These services can be used to boost your resume through the different types of formats which can be helpful in creating a professional yet interesting resume.Resumes can be created to cater the needs of a certain company or organization. In order to get the job, you have to show that you have a great profile to give a powerful impression. Therefore, if you want to increase your chances of getting the job, it is important to look for the services of resume writing services that can help you write professional resumes in a proper manner.The key aspect of a professional resume is to provide a professional perspective. If you have experience or expertise in the given field, then it is important to include the most relevant information in your resume.The best part about these service providers is that they have the capability to customize a resume according to the personal requirements of the applicant. The best part is that these services can be used to create impressive resumes which can give the potential employer's an idea about your skills, experience and skills in areas like mathematics, legal aspects etc.The resume writing services can be used to help the professional to highlight their qualities while highlighting the areas in which they can improve to make their resume impressive. If you have a strong determination to get a job, then a professional resume writer can help you attain success in a manner in which the others could not.In order to avoid the hassles of filling up resumes, a professional resume writing service can help you develop a professional resume in a very short time. All the written material will be able to provide an impressive professional resume that is able to give a powerful impression to the interviewer. If you want to get the best deals on the best resume writers, then the best way to ensure that you get the right amount is to use the Internet to research about various services and evaluate them. You will be able to understand about the rates and features offered by various service providers who offer resume writing services to the people of UK.It is important to note that professional resume writing services help in improving the professional image of the applicants. They are available for a very low cost, so it will be a smart decision to get these services for getting a professional resume.

Dont Talk About The PRC at Work - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Don’t Talk About The PRC at Work - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career There are (at least) three things you dont talk about at work. Or shouldnt talk about at work. Sure, there are exceptions. I will discuss a few examples below. But generally these are three of things you should not be talking about at work. Why not? Talking about The PRC cannot lead anywhere good. Talking about any of them generally leads to resentment, confusion, and consternation. None of which are good or productive uses of your time. I bring this up because we are in the silly season of elections and there are things going on globally that impact people everywhere. Generally, talking about The PRC will not lead to anything productive and it might be career limiting. What are The PRC? I used the term PRC because it’s easy to remember. Some may not think of the C as being a taboo topic at work and replace it with an S. Replace the C with an S. Where S = Sex. It’s not usually a great idea to talk about sex at work either. In some cultures talking about compensation is quite common. In others it can stop a conversation mid-sentence and quiet the whole room while everyone looks at their feet. The PRC are: Politics Religion Compensation Talking about them at work may be 100% within your rights, but talking about them at work may also be off-putting to your colleagues. Your employer has policies about office conduct. Typically, they will not cross a line and prohibit free speech or the way you express yourself. However, they are within their rights to have a safe and productive work environment. Pro Tip  â€" How to Shut it Down If a colleague insists on talking about The PRC you may just want to say “We have different thoughts about this” or “I’d rather not discuss X at work” If a colleague consistently crosses a line you aren’t comfortable with you may need to get your manager involved. But, try to defuse the situation personally and directly first. Exceptions Happen Of course, as with all things, there are exceptions. As part of your work commitments you will talk with your manager and human resources about compensation. But, as a rule of thumb … no one else. Millennials may tilt the tables here. Companies like Gravity Payments where the leadership efforts of Dan Price made the bold move to be very public about the lowest level any employee would be paid. This got a lot of attention â€" both positive and negative. I’m guessing it also led to a flood of job applications too. Compensation is one of the few areas where there may be some wiggle room to have a more open conversation. Talking about Politics or Religion isn’t likely to end up anywhere productive. A lot of companies have policies about talking about these, but freedom of speech being prevalent means that eventually someone will bring up a hot topic. When that happens be ready to take a breath and think hard before you jump in. Because a lot of time and effort will likely go into a black hole. Talking about The PRC can be Career Limiting While companies cannot ban free speech or otherwise prevent you from talking about The PRC you should be aware that talking, tweeting or overtly communication about any of The PRC can impact your career. Your employer will take a soft line on free speech. But, they will take a hard line of productivity and having a safe work environment. You may have seen movies where they talk about money almost non-stop. And, this is still quite true in many offices. But, the conversations are often about deals, projects, budgets and other more broadly related topics about The Business and generally not about The Person. Just be aware that talking about The PRC at the office can be misinterpreted by some and may not bode well on your future or your career today. What do you think? Do you talk about The PRC at work? What have been the results? Did you go away happy and satisfied? Or, did something else happen? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Job Search and Social Media Tips from Fishdogs

Job Search and Social Media Tips from Fishdogs Today, I spoke to Craig Fisher, aka Fishdogs. He is a hot shot recruiter, social media strategist, speaker and founder of A-List Solutions based in Dallas, Texas. What do you recruit for and what geography do you cover? Our main business is IT staffing and executive search. We mainly cover the Dallas/Fort Worth area in Texas. But we have clients with offices nationwide that we service as well. Hows business and outlook for the year? Business has been brisk since December. Our projections are good. Well set records. But last year started strong and then fell off as unemployment rose. What is the key to your success? Our clients like us because we have a good combination of technical and business knowledge. So we get under the hood and discover what the clients real needs are. This usually differs substantially from the given job description. We also talk with current employees and try to develop a personality profile that will work long term. Then we are able to really target specific candidates vs. sending multiple resumes to see what sticks. What are the trends you have spotted in your field? Sourcing is a bigger and bigger deal. I have been a full desk recruiter and did all my own sourcing. But I have also employed dedicated sourcers for specific searches. Its great to have someone who can just churn out skill-qualified candidates. Unfortunately you still need a good recruiter to vet these candidates thoroughly. And thats where the process often breaks down. We find more candidates, but they are not vetted, pre-closed, etc. So candidate to hire ratio is no better. Maybe worse. It is taking longer to hire overall. How much do you use social media to find clients and candidates? We use social media all the time to find clients and candidates. Most of our new clients come from social media. Many of our candidate or candidate referrals do too. For sourcing, Linkedin is by far the most effective. Linkedin is also good for creating groups of candidate and client communities. Twitter is best for actual relationship building. You can have better conversations there than on any other platfform. I like to use Twitter to compliment my Linkedin and Facebook accounts. Facebook is becoming a better referral tool as I create more groups there for specific communities. But Twitter is still where the conversations take place. How important are resumes and cover letters? Resumes and cover letters are still very important. But they may begin to take more of an online or virtual form on sites designed to keep the information fluid and dynamic. What are your best tips to jobseekers in a tough market? Spread your digital footprint. Get your entire resume complete with keywords into Linkedin. Have a nice profile pic there too. Dont just rely on submitting resumes to job boards. Grow your Linkedin network and reach out to people in the companies you want to work for. Contribute to the groups in which they participate. Become a trusted resource of valuable information. Then ask to be referred in for positions with their organizations. Start a blog about the space in which you wish to be hired. Post good content and more information about yourself there. Occasionally refer your growing network to an article you have posted there. Position yourself as the expert. Are job coaches, career coaches of any use to jobseekers? Yes, certainly. Most good recruiters can help as well. But remember to use your head and speak to references before paying money to a coach. Any other pearls of wisdom you would like to share? A great way to grow your Linkedin network is to first follow those you wish to connect with on Twitter. Network with your targets there for a week or two before going back to Linkedin to ask them to join your network. Let them know you have been following them on Twitter and would like to connect on Linkedin as well. Remember to be a vaulable contributor on Twitter as well as Linkedin. Dont just ask for help. Contribute first. Related: Secrets of the Internal Recruiter, Interview with David Cherry from McAfee

Online Professional Resume Writing Services - Tips On How To Choose A Top Resume Writer

Online Professional Resume Writing Services - Tips On How To Choose A Top Resume WriterIf you want to write a professional resume then you can hire an online professional resume writing service that can help you write the perfect resume. However, there are a few things that you should know before you start out on your job search.Before you hire a service, first make sure that they have the experience and talent in writing, interview preparation and skilled resume writers. There are thousands of websites and companies offering these services, but not all of them can deliver what you need. So, you should only consider hiring a freelance or online professional resume writing service if they are capable of creating and delivering what you require.Next, it is recommended that you do some research on these local resume services. Do a Google search for 'online professional resume writing services in Denver' and see what you come up with. You can also check with the Better Business Bureau fo r their feedback on any given service. You can also look for reviews and testimonials online.It is important that you should be able to give an opening for your prospective employer. If you are applying online, then you should give them a way to contact you. This will ensure that they can easily get in touch with you.Last but not the least, is to clearly spell out your qualifications on your resume as this will ensure that it is of top priority when it is finally submitted. In order to know how to spell your name, it is advised that you get a professional resume writer to help you. The last thing you want is to waste your time or your prospective employer's time by having sloppy work on your resume.Also, it is highly recommended that you add all your personal details and personal experience including things such as your experience, education, certifications and titles like director, coordinator, writer etc. Remember, you can learn from other resume and cover letter samples that have been used by other job seekers.To this end, you should not hire a freelancer without looking at his/her portfolio or feedback from those who have worked with him/her in the past. Another thing that you should look for is how many times they have been hired before. A professional resume writer should have a good history and he/she should be an expert at writing resumes.In order to choose an online resume writing service, look for experienced and talented resume writers that can create a perfect resume for you. Next, you should be very clear on what you want to accomplish and for this you need a reliable online professional resume writing service.

Freeware Program That Makes Resume Writing Easy

Freeware Program That Makes Resume Writing EasyFreeware programs can be a real blessing for people who make use of the internet to do their job. Such a program can help with resume writing. If you are one of the unfortunate people who had a few bad experiences in the past, you may not realize it, but there are several ways to find out if the applicant is worthy of you giving a job interview to.It can be really difficult for the average person to try and come up with the best possible resume for an organization. This is due to the fact that most people will put in too much effort when writing the resume to make it as creative as possible. When this happens, the resume will usually look like a mess and you may not even have a chance to send it out to any of the companies that you have listed on your resume.The people who do not know how to write a resume can end up with a job for which they cannot be happy. A lot of people will hire freelancers to make sure that they get the job and no t someone who know how to use proper English and that is able to understand the job requirement properly. Most job seekers only think that a good resume can make them stand out from the crowd, but they usually find out that they are very lucky that they did not waste their time in coming up with the resume.A free program that makes resume writing easy can give people the knowledge that they need in order to come up with something creative. These programs are great tools that will help people write resumes without having to spend all of their time on it. They also tend to work with Microsoft Word and will allow you to create a resume with a simple click of the mouse.The best thing about the free program that makes resume writing easy is that you can also edit it afterwards. You will still have access to the information that you want to include in your resume even after you have proofread it. A free program that makes resume writing easy will give you a professional looking resume wit hout having to pay for it.The other thing that you should know about these programs is that they are very easy to use. They are very flexible and the formatting is so great that you will have no problem using it. Most of these programs also have templates that can be used for free and can be used by almost anyone.When you are writing your resume, you should take the time to think about the reasons why you want the job. This way, you will be able to see the kind of person that you are and why you are the best candidate for the job. By doing this, you will be able to build a great resume that has what it takes to stand out among all of the others.Take the time to create your resume and work with a program that makes resume writing easy. You will be amazed at the difference it can make in the way that you can stand out from the crowd. This is especially true if you are trying to find a job in your field.

Tips on Networking and Mentors

Tips on Networking and Mentors I recently did an online master class for Ivy Exec called ‘How to Break Free from the Mid-Career Slump’, and there were so many good questions that I just didn’t get to answer. So I’m going to start answering them in a series of these blog posts. Today’s questions (I’m going to answer three of them) are all around networking. These three questions are: How do you interact correctly with your professional network? What role do mentors play in a mid-career slump? Did I have a champion to pull me through my career? How do you interact correctly with your professional network? So, on “how do you interact correctly with your professional network”, I’ve got three thoughts. First is you’ve got to give first. It’s like making a deposit in your relationship bank account before you can make a withdrawal. Second, you want to make sure it’s a two-way street, so it’s not you giving all the time and never receiving. You want to give and you want to ask as well. Make it a balance. Then, third, you always want to do it in a professional manner. Being professional is so important; it’s one of my highest compliments that I can pay anybody. “You are so professional.” Wow, that means something to me, and what it means in this context is you want to be sure to be constructive, and you want to be using positive words, you don’t want to be gossiping, definitely not criticising, but you want to be solutions-oriented. So it’s a really professional relationship where your behaviour is completely at that high level that you want it to be. Then, overall, this is really about building relationships. When it comes to relationships, there are psychology studies that show that in order for you to keep a relationship of any kind at neutral, you’ve got to have at least three or maybe even five positive interactions to offset every one negative interaction. So it’s a 3:1 or 5:1 ratio just to keep it at neutral. So what that says is when you’re developing that professional network you’ve got to have enough interactions with people so that when that inevitable hiccup happens you’ve got some positive interactions in the bank. What role do mentors play in a mid-career slump? I think they play three main roles. One is as a sounding board so that you can test out new opportunities and different ideas, and see what their feedback is to you about how that fits with your strengths and skill-set. The second one is about being a reality check for you. Sometimes our self-perceptions of a situation are not always accurate. So it’s giving you help in holding up a mirror to say, “How do they perceive things?” And compare that, whether there’s a gap to how you perceive things, so a reality check. Then third, they can be helping you as a career guide, particularly by giving you their experiences and the stories that they have, so that you can really glean some things about your own future direction and how to get out of the slump. I want to emphasise that what they are not is that they are not somebody that you vent to, and that it’s for the purpose of venting. Unless you know them so well and you say, “Look, I’ve just got to vent for a few minutes here,” but in a professional mentoring relationship it’s not really about venting. It’s also not about asking them to give you a job. You want to be a little bit more subtle about it. It is okay to ask for, “Who else should I talk to, to explore something further,” or advice on what’s the best way forward. But you’re not supposed to ask them directly for a job. Did I have a champion to pull me through my career? I had the privilege of having three, not at the same time, and unfortunately not continuously. It was when I had those champions that I actually had the biggest jumps in my career, and in between I felt like I was “in the wilderness”. Now, how do you find this kind of champion? Well, unfortunately you can’t just go to the store and get one and bring him or her home. What you have to do is you have to put yourself out there. You’ve got to take a little bit of personal risk and have some courage, but put yourself out there so that people can see you in action, you at your best, and that way they can say, “Yes, this is somebody that I have the confidence in to really perform well if I pluck them out of here and plop them into this new, bigger, better, different opportunity for them to shine.” So, I hope that’s helpful. I’ll be back with more answers to your questions. In the mean time, I want to urge you to keep investing in yourself so that you can be better and do more.

Age discrimination in the job hunt -

Age discrimination in the job hunt - Ive been thinking a lot about age discrimination facing job hunters. I plan to do a series of posts on the topic and have been collecting links and resources. There is certainly no shortage of information. (If you are an expert on the subject, or a job seeker with a personal experience or story to share, be sure to contact me!) When I started to think about this topic, I remembered a blog that Marci Alboher wrote that described a job hunter, Lisa Johnson Mandell. Lisa was profiled on the Today Show because she had transformed her image as a 49-year old over-the-hill job seeker (in her industry entertainment) by taking advantage of online resources and re-making her image to seem more hip. I was intrigued by the story at the time and wrote a blog responding to the topic. (In a funny coincidence, Marci Alboher, author of the book, One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success, is now a senior fellow for Civic Ventures, an organization dedicated to helping people reinvent themselves with encore careers. Ive recommended their GUIDE for boomers (and anyone) who hopes to reinvent their careers in favor of doing something in the nonprofit world and/or the public sector.) In doing some digging, I found out that Lisa actually has a book out now on the subject of remaking yourself for the job hunt Career Comeback. In it, she talks about everything from appearance to attitude as they relate to overcoming age discrimination in your job hunt. I just received my copy of Lisas book today, so I was inspired to share the post I originally wrote in July 2008 on the topic of ageism on the job hunt. I think it is just as topical (if not more so) today! Here is a version of that post You thought social media was for the “kids?” Blogging, Twitter, Facebook…You don’t have time to engage online with a bunch of people â€" you’re busy with your job hunt! Think again! If you haven’t looked for a job in a while and/or aren’t tuned in to managing your “digital footprint” â€" what comes up when someone “Googles” your name â€" it’s time for a quick lesson in social media. The long and the short of it is this: an online presence is key to how people will perceive you. Especially if you are in a “young” industry that discriminates against workers over 40, appearing connected to new ways of presenting yourself (your brand, as it were), may help you open doors that seemed closed. Take the story of a 49-year old entertainment reporter (as reported in Marci Albohers blog) who remade her image by freshening up her appearance and wardrobe and creating a hip online presence that made her seem younger than would belie her 20 years of industry experience. She hired people to help her, which is a great idea, but Marci points out that asking fashion conscious friends and teenagers (your children or others’) for advice and information about trends and technology is another option. The key factor is, no matter how much experience you have, it is important to keep up with what is going on in today’s job market. Video resumes, Wikis, video conferencing, podcasts…Job seekers should be aware of these technologies and willing to use them! Be resourceful and aware â€" you may be surprised to learn that Web 2.0 tools can be a lot of fun and helpful beyond networking and job seeking. (Be sure to let me know when you start using a Wiki to plan your next potluck!) Facing discrimination in your job hunt? I can write your resume to make you look younger. Need help navigating social media and online networking? Keppie Careers is here for you! Don’t forget that clear, concise, optimized job search materials AND a strong, well executed plan are key for job search success! I can help with every part of your job hunt! Need a great resume? Tips to use social networking? Interview coaching? If you need help mobilizing your networks and your job search plans, learn more about how I can help you! While you’re at it, don’t forget those social networks! Be sure to become a fan of Keppie Careers on Facebook…I’d be thrilled to have you as part of the community! Since we’re on the subject of doing something new…Are you on Twitter? Jump on and touch base with me @keppie_careers. photo by Help Age