How a Job Application Tracker Can Speed Up Your Job Hunt
A job application tracker keeps you focused, boosts accountability, enhances motivation, and expands your networking opportunities.
We know that it’s hard to keep spirits up when you are putting yourself out there. Not to get too personal, but as startup founders, we get told “no” a lot. Here are some ways to gain some extra positivity during your job search.
Sometimes, thinking about the big picture can be daunting. Break down your job search into manageable tasks and set achievable goals. Tackle one day at a time.
Keep track of the applications you’ve sent, responses received, and follow-ups due. This will help you feel in control and see your progress over time. Hardly is building an application tracker to help with this! Sign up to be notified when it is live.
Use Hardly’s free resume builder to quickly edit job details and enhance your new-found skills!
Regular physical activity can significantly improve your mood and reduce stress. Engage in activities that relax and rejuvenate you, whether it’s reading, meditating, or spending time with loved ones. Mindfulness practices can help reduce stress and maintain mental health. Combined with a healthy diet, it can enhance your overall well-being, keeping you energized and positive.
This one may not give you a ton of confidence, but connections can speed up your job search substantially. Reconnecting with old colleagues, attending industry meetups, or joining professional groups online can open new opportunities and provide valuable support.
For each application or interview, research the company and role extensively. This preparation can boost your confidence, showing you’re well-informed and genuinely interested
Conduct mock interviews with friends or mentors to build your confidence. Feedback can help improve your performance and reduce anxiety for the real thing. If you need extra help with this, consider seeking support from a career coach or counselor. If you are ready to take the leap, Hardly has plenty of coaches who are eager to help you on your journey.
Start your day with positive affirmations or motivational quotes. Reminding yourself of your skills, achievements, and worth can set a positive tone for the day. Celebrate small victories, like getting a callback or even just completing a day’s worth of job applications.
We know this is easier said than done, but try to avoid comparing your journey to others’. Everyone’s career path is unique, and comparing can unnecessarily diminish your achievements and confidence.
A job application tracker keeps you focused, boosts accountability, enhances motivation, and expands your networking opportunities.
Job searching can often be, well, soul-crushing 😣. Maintaining confidence during a job search is challenging, but it is also crucial for success. Next time you need a boost, consider these strategies:
Most of us are our absolute best work selves when we start a new job. Our boss says “jump,” we say “how high.” We show up early, over-prepared, and volunteer for every opportunity for growth. Then a couple of weeks or months go by and naturally as we get more comfortable a few bad habits tend to rear their ugly heads.
Want to pursue a lucrative career in 2024? There is a good chance that you will be hired if you pursue any of these 10 careers— all of which pay over $100,000. These are the fast-growing careers where hiring is most urgent and growth is most rapid. This data is sourced from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, so you know it’s legit.
A software developer’s job is to design, develop, test and deploy computer software. They may work on a variety of projects, from developing new applications to maintaining and improving existing ones. A software developer must have strong problem-solving and technical skills, as well as be able to work effectively in a team.
This job also has the advantage of being highly entrepreneurial. So if you are thinking about freelancing for most of your career, being a software developer is a good option. This will continue to be on the fast-growing career list for the foreseeable future.
The Medical and Health Services Manager career offers the security and money of a medical career, but is also ideal for those who prefer to work at a desk that is far away from sick people. You will be responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating healthcare providers’ business activities.
Your days will be filled with pushing papers in the medical office and meeting with doctors, but you’ll still have time to cash your $101K salary check at the bank.
A financial manager is responsible for the financial wellbeing of their organization. They create financial plans, direct investment activities, and oversee financial risk management. Financial managers work in a variety of industries, including banking, insurance, accounting, and financial planning.
The role of a financial manager is not a new fast-growing career, and most of this increased need is due to people retiring or leaving the workforce.
The “hero career” is no surprise to remain in the fast-growing careers for 2024. You’ll bring home $121K per year and be recognized for saving lives. Nursing practitioners, nurse anesthetists, and midwives are all known as advanced practice registered nurses. Their responsibilities include coordinating patient care and providing primary and specialty care.
Prepare yourself for companies to start chasing you once you get your Master’s degree, but don’t get too excited! There is one more step to complete—obtaining your state’s license and APRN certification.
The job of a computer and information systems manager is to plan, organize, and coordinate the activities of workers who design, develop, test, and maintain computer software and systems. They also oversee the installation of new systems and ensure that existing systems are compatible with new software and hardware. In addition, computer and information systems managers consult with other departments to ensure that their computer system needs are met.
You can work in a variety of different industries— including government, education, or private businesses. To read more about being a Computer and Information Systems Manager, check out this article from Chron.
Prepare yourself for companies to start chasing you once you get your Master’s degree, but don’t get too excited! There is one more step to complete—obtaining your state’s license and APRN certification.
Health Specialties Teachers’ job is to instruct various subjects like human anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology to healthcare students. They also prepare students for their future roles in the healthcare field.
The majority of health specialty teachers are employed by colleges or universities. Some of them, however, work in medical hospitals, trade schools, or junior colleges. Additional licenses and certifications may be required based on the field you teach in.
This job is also called the “White Hat Hacker” job and reminds us of all those hacking scenes in movies. Information Security Analysts are responsible for the overall security of an organization’s information systems.
They work to identify and mitigate security risks, and are responsible for developing and implementing security policies and procedures. Information security analysts must have a strong understanding of computer networks and systems, and must be able to think critically to identify and resolve security issues.
All of the jobs on this list pay well, but you shouldn’t choose one of these careers solely because of the paycheck. Sign up for a free Hardly account today and you can use our tools and assessments to understand what you need and want in your career. Want to take it up a notch? You can chat with one of our coaches, who will be able to guide you through understanding yourself in the context of your career.
It is your life and your career that you will invest much time and energy into. A rewarding career choice will give you energy, passion, and joy.
Career development is an important factor in your overall success and well-being. Whether you’re looking to change career paths, level up in your current job, or just gain new skills, here are five tips to help you plan a successful journey of career growth.
Having clearly defined goals is an essential part of career development success. Outline the type of job and position you want to achieve, as well as any learning objectives and skills you need to accomplish along the way. Setting effective performance and professional goals will help you stay on track and improve your chances of success. Break down these goals into SMART objectives (i.e., specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely), so that they are manageable and achievable.
Short-term and long-term career planning can help you understand what you need to do each day and how to achieve your professional goals. Use tools such as networking, career action plans, training and development plans, or job shadowing to get an understanding of how your goals can be achieved in both the short-term and long-term. Building strong relationships with professionals who have knowledge of the clearances you need or information about specific job openings is also key for career advancement.
Staying up to date with the latest trends and knowledge in your chosen industry is an important component of successful career development. Read books, attend seminars and conferences, take professional education classes online or at nearby colleges, and/or join a professional association. These activities can help you keep up with changes in your field, stay current with best practices, show potential employers that you are willing to go the extra mile to acquire new skills, and make connections within the industry.
Networking is an important part of career development, as it can help you make contacts in the industry, open doors to new opportunities, and keep your skills sharp. You can meet other professionals at conferences and events or join a professional or alumni organization. Connecting with peers and mentors online through social media platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter can also be beneficial. Additionally, participating in online forums and discussions related to your industry can help establish yourself as a thought leader.
Hardly’s events are an excellent way to meet other people! You never know which workshop could give you the right connection to launch your career forward. Also, if you are hunting for a new job, here are some resume tips for you.
Identifying role models and mentors is a great way to learn from the success of others. Mentors are people you can look up to, admiring their achievements, while learning from their experiences. Observing or talking with them can provide insight on how they’ve achieved success in their fields and help you find your own personal approach. Additionally, mentors can be powerful advocates who will champion you and your career aspirations.
Check out Hardly’s career coaches to get expert guidance!
A career coach is there to help you figure out what you want to do, explore opportunities for professional growth, and support you through a job search. But… It takes time and money to hire a career coach, so you should do your homework to figure out if working with one will help you reach your career goals. And if a career coach is for you, what kind of coach will be the best? Here are five reasons you might consider hiring one.
It's hard to know what to do next.
When family or friends try to help narrow down your choices, their advice may not always reflect what resonates with you; it may be based on what you’ve done in the past or what’s the “easiest” career or job. Your coach can help you consider career and job options that are different from what you’ve done previously or that you hadn’t considered.
You had a bad experience at another job
If you have or have had a job that caused you anger, sadness, or anxiety, you may be trying to move on from that experience. A lot of people think the next job will fix their negative attitudes, but it doesn’t work like that. A career coach can help you move past those repeated unpleasant experiences and review your assumptions, which may not only impact your job search but also your daily motivation and family life.
If you are unsure that you should leave your job, check out our article on 10 Signs It’s Time to Leave Your Job
Creating a simple, yet substantive resume is challenging.
To qualify for a job at the level advertised, resumes must demonstrate the correct skills and abilities. It’s important to position your skills in the context of a potential role – particularly transferable skills that don’t match perfectly with the job description. Despite how great an accomplishment may be, not every accomplishment belongs on a resume. By focusing your resume and LinkedIn into one message, a career coach can help you better position yourself. This will help you attract recruiters’ attention by determining which experiences are relevant to the job for which you are applying.
If you want a quick fix that isn’t as thorough, look for tools like Enhancv— which will automatically scan your resume and suggest updates.
Not making it past the recruiter screen? You may need assistance when it comes to connecting your experience to each job. Otherwise, you may continue to make it to the next round but you won’t get past the hiring manager. Practicing with a career coach will help you polish your executive presence, answer common questions, and prepare you for interviews.
A career coach isn’t just for finding a job. There are lots of coaches around who can help you figure out why you’re not advancing. You can work with a coach to conduct an objective evaluation or review your performance feedback to determine which behavior you should change to move ahead in your career.
Career coaches can be extremely helpful, but that one-on-one time comes at a cost. Before you take the leap and pay, test the waters with our interactive quizzes and forum-style career coaching. That way, if you do choose to meet with one of our career coaches, you’ll have your motivations, priorities, and career path ready to be discussed.
A job application tracker keeps you focused, boosts accountability, enhances motivation, and expands your networking opportunities.
Job searching can often be, well, soul-crushing 😣. Maintaining confidence during a job search is challenging, but it is also crucial for success. Next time you need a boost, consider these strategies:
Most of us are our absolute best work selves when we start a new job. Our boss says “jump,” we say “how high.” We show up early, over-prepared, and volunteer for every opportunity for growth. Then a couple of weeks or months go by and naturally as we get more comfortable a few bad habits tend to rear their ugly heads.
Want to pursue a lucrative career in 2023? There is a good chance that you will be hired if you pursue any of these 10 careers— all of which pay over $100,000. These are the fast-growing careers where hiring is most urgent and growth is most rapid.
Get ready to give your tech resume a winning edge! This guide breaks down the essentials for creating a standout tech resume. From spotlighting your tech skills to tailoring your application for each job, we’ve got the insider tips you need.
In 2024, optimize your resume for ATS success with strategic keyword use, clean formatting, and tailored content to stand out in the digital job market.
We’ve all been there. When Sunday evening rolls around and you suddenly feel your eyes rolling back in your head. The dread of going to an unfulfilling job is something that makes us all feel isolated and unified, simultaneously. But in the world of the great resignation, you have choices! It’s never been better to be on the hunt for a new job, or even a new career. That’s why we have some handy questions that you can ask yourself to find out if it’s time to say “sayonara” and look to new horizons.
You may love your company, so it’s time that you hear some tough love. If you’ve been talking to your manager for years about a promotion or a change of role within the company, you are not getting it. In their mind, you are glued to a specific type of position and they will never see you differently. If you are certain it is time for a change, you’ll be more likely to get it somewhere else.
Once upon a time, you were surrounded by an amazing group of friends at work, every day. Slowly, those have trickled away finding jobs somewhere else. The new coworkers? They are fine, but you know how work used to be.
You’ll always be comparing your current coworkers to your former work-BFFs. Always. And no one deserves to live in the past like that. It’s time to update your resume, and get going. Plus, doesn’t it mean something if everyone is leaving? If you need a way to track your happiness at work, check out our article on Career Journaling for Success.
Of course, everyone relates differently to their company’s mission, and this is more important to some people than others. But for most professionals, their values need to align with their company. A mission represents where company leadership steers to in the future, and you want to be moving forward on the same road, right?
Want to see if your values align with your organization? Try our free quiz here.
Speaking of not looking back… Your manager is RIGHT BEHIND YOU.
Just kidding. They aren’t (at least we don’t think so).
But seriously, you spend 33% or more of your time at work. If you don’t trust your manager or company leadership to take care of you behind closed doors, that’s a sign that you should leave your job for better opportunities. At the end of the day, you need to look out for yourself, but it’s best if you can trust that your boss isn’t going to screw you over.
We put this at Number 1, because this is sadly what we hear all the time. You filled out a survey, expressing your feedback to management. You also told them the same feedback at your yearly review. And maybe you’ve mentioned it to others at the holiday party. Every time you express your feedback, you are met with nodding heads and complete agreement, yet no one is doing anything about it.
Leaving in these circumstances can be the most freeing! You’ve tried your best, and that is all you can do. Take your great ideas to another company that aligns to your vision of the future, or better yet, create the company you want. Because if the past couple of years has shown us anything, it’s that you have no time to waste on someone else’s bulls*&#.
In the 21st century, “work-life balance” has become a buzz word. ADP states “the term was first introduced in the 1970s and 80s as stressed baby boomers strove to achieve a balance between career, family and other areas of their lives.” Now, work-life balance is promoted as the antidote to burnout. Taking vacation days and leaving work at work used to be a sign of this balance but now, with flexible hours, remote offices, and more opportunities to work in a field one is passionate about, it can be hard to define what work-life balance looks like for each of us. It can be even harder to determine if we are achieving it. While Hardly acknowledges there are a variety of work to life ratios that feel healthy depending on your work personality, here is a list of common barriers to attaining the balance you are looking for:
Regardless of what your work style is, giving colleagues and clients 24/7 access to you can make it impossible to create work-life balance. The scary thing is, most of us don’t even realize we are doing this. While I love the creation of smartphones, one of the huge downfalls is that my work email and slack are always attached to me. I could be at dinner with the family or on a weekend trip with my friends and I still feel the pressure to keep tabs on work because notifications are flying in. Now if you are a person who likes to work on the go, having your work email on your phone might be a godsend, but that doesn’t mean you have to be available all of the time. Instead, make a habit of turning off your notifications for at least part of the day and creating a 48 hour reply rule so that others don’t expect you to be on demand all of the time.
Intimately tied to setting access boundaries, understanding that most things are not urgent is crucial to maintaining work-life balance. Setting priorities and having a plan for executing them will help you keep your boundaries consistent. If your goal is to never work past 5pm, you have to be able to determine tasks for the next 24 hours versus what can wait until the next morning. This way you are confident in your decision to stay offline. Similarly, effective weekly planning will help your boss and colleagues feel comfortable not contacting you while on vacation. It is when they feel out of the loop that panic arises and we are unable to detach.
This next one is more of a mindset rather than a clear obstacle. Either consciously or unconsciously many of us identify work as our primary source of value. If we earn a high salary or work for a prestigious company it in part identifies us and our accomplishments. While understandable, thinking you are your job can be hugely detrimental to work-life balance. Even if work is not attached to your identity, 99% of us need a job to have financial security. If your job feels like it is all you have, you will live in fear of jeopardizing it. So when your boss asks you to take on more, your natural reaction is to say yes without question. Next thing you know, friends, family, hobbies, and mental health can all fall to the wayside. Combat this by keeping your resume and cover letter updated, networking, and knowing your capabilities. Have confidence in your ability to get another job and that your life is full outside of work to prevent your boundaries from being bulldozed.
Another prominent boundary to achieving work-life balance is your company’s culture. While many companies now boast ideals that support employee mental health and encourage time away from work, the reality can look very different. Many times, our bosses and colleagues set the tone for expectations at work so if they aren’t taking a break, we aren’t either. Similarly, if we see that others are praised for staying late or working on weekends, we are likely to follow suit. While we don’t have control over other people’s habits, we can seek out environments where our style of work-life balance is encouraged and at the very least have a candid conversation with our superiors about how our desired balance can be supported.
Lastly, one of the largest barriers to work-life balance is 100% in your control: not knowing what to do outside of work. It is hard to justify time away from your desk when life outside of work lacks purpose or excitement. As adults we often forget the value of having hobbies that don’t bring in money or we aren’t excelling at. Not everything has to be a side hustle for it to be important. Spending time with friends, family (pets included), and nurturing interests outside of work makes you a whole person. Valuing your home life will help you respect it and make work-life balance a priority.
A job application tracker keeps you focused, boosts accountability, enhances motivation, and expands your networking opportunities.
Job searching can often be, well, soul-crushing 😣. Maintaining confidence during a job search is challenging, but it is also crucial for success. Next time you need a boost, consider these strategies:
Most of us are our absolute best work selves when we start a new job. Our boss says “jump,” we say “how high.” We show up early, over-prepared, and volunteer for every opportunity for growth. Then a couple of weeks or months go by and naturally as we get more comfortable a few bad habits tend to rear their ugly heads.
If you’re anything like me, the hardest part about applying for a new job is writing a cover letter and preparing for an interview. It’s not the writing or the talking per se, but trying to remember the crucial aspects of my work experience. When it comes time for my yearly review, I sometimes struggle to come up with my successes, professional goals, or what I would have done differently.
A career journal is not simply a diary about work. While documenting office gossip might be entertaining, the point of a career journal is to keep track of your good ideas, contributions to projects, and expectations. For this reason, many find career journals to be the least expensive and easiest form of career development. Hardly recently rolled out a new feature on our app: the Time Capsule, which makes career journaling easier than ever. Below are some tips on how to use it to your advantage.
One of the most important aspects of a career journal is logging your STAR stories. The Muse states that the STAR method is used for behavioral interview questions. These are questions that usually start with “tell me about a time when…” or “what do you do when…” and center around how you handled a situation in the past. Often answering these questions on the spot can result in rambling or a tangent that misses the mark. The STAR method enables you to answer these questions in a compelling and clear way so that your story hits the nail on the head. So what does STAR stand for?
Situation: Start with a situation. Here your goal is to set the scene and give just enough details so that the interviewer can paint a picture in their mind.
Task: Second, discuss what your role or responsibility was in the situation you just described.
Action: Third, it’s time to shine. Talk about how you reacted and give a play-by-play of how you addressed the situation.
Result: Share what your actions achieved. This will wrap up your story in a perfect bow and drive home the point you are trying to make.
This method will make your answers to these questions focused and signal to the interviewer your thoughts are well-organized which helps you come off prepared and polished. By journaling these stories in this format you will become intimately familiar with them. The more familiar you are, the more confident you will become telling them. Not only do STAR stories help you prepare for interview questions and yearly reviews, but they also keep you positive about your progress. Sometimes it is hard to recognize our strengths daily or remember times when we really nailed it. Reflecting on these wins can provide a morale boost when the going gets tough. I promise, writing and reviewing these stellar stories is the key success.
The next set of items you should keep in your journal are lessons you’ve learned. This is a place where you can dive into opportunities for improvement or take note of why you excelled. Lessons can be learned in a variety of work areas from technical aspects of the job to relational ones. They can come from both positive and and negative experiences. Taking the time to analyze the “why” of successes and failures can provide a playbook for acing the task every time and help you avoid repeating mistakes in the future. The less time you spend relearning lessons, the more you can set yourself up for greater professional success.
We all know keeping track of our professional goals is important, but do we actually do it? Probably not as frequently as we should. Many of us are encouraged to write smart goals right around our yearly review but other than that, we have little idea if we are getting closer to where we want to be or staying stagnant. Maintaining a career journal can jolt us into thinking more broadly about our careers. So often we can get sidetracked or fall into what is comfortable instead of pushing ourselves. Many of us also get weighed down in the minutia and can’t remember our purpose for work.
Goal setting can help increase our intrinsic motivation and prevent burnout. By journaling, you can connect the work you are doing now to what you want to do in the future. An article referencing Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky states that spending 20 minutes a day writing a narrative description of your best possible future self can help cultivate optimism and an overall sense of happiness. Journaling your goals will not only document where you want to go, but how you are going to get there. This is hugely helpful when looking for a new job position and thinking about whether the position you are applying for will propel you forward or not.
My husband always talks about how midshipmen at the Naval Academy are taught to keep a reflective journal noting the words and actions they like and dislike of officers. The purpose of this is to encourage those in training to become the officers they would want to be led by. Similarly, your career journal can serve as a place to keep wise words of mentors and good ideas of your own. Being able to remember the valuable advice of a boss or colleague is priceless. Referencing their words can serve as inspiration and even be passed on to a mentee of your own someday.
Additionally, there is nothing worse than racking your brain trying to recall the great idea you had when you need it most. Your career journal is a convenient way to keep track of solutions that come to mind as you lay in bed and share them with your boss or team the next day.
On the Hardly app, you can easily document all of the above as well as your experience at work. The Hardly career Time Capsule allows you to organize and search your work stories so that they are easy to access for interviews and yearly reviews. It also allows you to flag certain entries to be emailed to you in the future so you can gain perspective on how far you’ve come in your career journey. Lastly, the Time Capsule will take your career journaling to the next level by serving as a more personal place for you to reflect on your work-life balance, reflect on what’s going right in your career, and vent about your current workplace frustrations. Documenting your work experiences can actually be a great form of self-care and reduce stress according to the HECEC at Cornell University.
Let us know what other functions you would find helpful as a part of your career journaling toolkit and try our Time Capsule out for yourself at app.hardly-work.com.
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A job application tracker keeps you focused, boosts accountability, enhances motivation, and expands your networking opportunities.
Job searching can often be, well, soul-crushing 😣. Maintaining confidence during a job search is challenging, but it is also crucial for success. Next time you need a boost, consider these strategies:
Most of us are our absolute best work selves when we start a new job. Our boss says “jump,” we say “how high.” We show up early, over-prepared, and volunteer for every opportunity for growth. Then a couple of weeks or months go by and naturally as we get more comfortable a few bad habits tend to rear their ugly heads.
When I interviewed for my first job at a market research firm in D.C., I distinctly remember them asking questions around ‘culture fit.’ My future boss asked me to take a personality test, while the HR manager asked which values I shared with the company. I later found out that my boss and I were both ENFJs, and the Vice President of HR said she felt like I would be a great fit for that team and the office. Everyone on the team, including my boss and the HR Manager, was a Caucasian female who seemed to have a direct but friendly demeanor. They all enjoyed team lunches and happy hours outside of work but also worked overtime and felt the need to go above and beyond. My only difference was that I am Black. We were a culture fit and 90% of the time we worked well together.
Recently, there has been an uptick in articles exploring the ways in which ‘culture fit’ actually perpetuates bias in the workplace. The worry is that in industries that are struggling to diversify, searching for candidates who fit the current culture leads to more of the same: i.e. white men. But I’m curious, is there an inherent problem with the idea of ‘culture fit,’ or just the implementation of it? If so, how can we improve and change the narrative?
According to Jeremy Turpen, executive recruiter in Silicon Valley, ‘culture fit’ creates a clan mentality where hiring managers only seek out their own kind. This mentality focuses on nurturing the already existing tribe and therefore fails to bring in diverse people. He finds this evident in how hiring managers have been trained to scan for ivy league schools and markers of privilege. Even if you are a diverse person who makes it through this initial scan, you can be weeded out during the interviewing process if you aren’t able to quickly create rapport with the interviewer over shared experiences.
The Intercept highlights this particular kind of situation in an article about a Black woman who applied for a position at Facebook. Even though she was exceptionally qualified, she was passed over for the job and the company told her they were looking for a strong ‘culture fit.’ In the article, she adds that she felt the company did not prioritize her application and that the only other Black person she saw at Facebook was the receptionist.
In a Medium article, Stephanie Barnes goes so far as to say “Culture Fits Only” is the Jim Crow 2.0 “Whites Only” sign. She states that ‘culture fit’ has been a way for companies to hide racism. But race is not the only basis on which ‘culture fit’ potentially discriminates. It can also perpetuate sexism, homophobia, ageism, ableism, and more. This twisted version of culture fit becomes clear when hiring managers state that the candidate had the right skills or had great references, but they just wouldn’t fit with the team. When asked to elaborate, they can’t come up with a clear answer as to why they don’t match the company culture, it’s just kind of a feeling.
These articles are clear examples of how ‘culture fit’ has been distorted. But could it be used effectively to weed people in rather than weeding people out? ‘Culture fit’ often brings up ideas around being of the same ethnic culture, socioeconomic status, personality type. Overall, people think of it as hiring who you’d want to grab a beer with. However, this definition is skewed because it focuses on individual cultural values rather than company ones.
Fortunately, the articles mentioned above provide some hope by illuminating a similarity in companies that use culture fit inappropriately. Most of these organizations don’t have defined values. When companies do not define their culture clearly, they risk perpetuating a homogenized culture. In other words, if recruiters aren’t clear on company culture, they revert to their personal culture to find a match.
As Stephanie Barnes states, “the purpose of company culture is to ensure that everyone is on the same page in terms of mission, values, goals, attitudes and practices in an organization.”
What if instead of asking themselves “do they look like me or have the same college experience as me?” hiring managers asked “does this person thrive in a company that encourages outside-the-box thinking or an entrepreneurial spirit?” Effective culture fit is about helping candidates decipher if this company will help them flourish based on the work-related values.
The alternative is that companies solely hire based on skills. What happens when company culture is implicit rather than explicit? If you’re very capable and hardworking but prefer structure and instruction, will you excel with a hands-off managerial style? Plenty of companies pride themselves on hosting quarterly company outings and offering unlimited vacation. But if you prefer educational stipends and performance bonuses, will you stay there for long?
What if ‘culture fit’ was not only neutral, but actually worked against prejudiced hiring practices? Hardly stands firmly against homogenization in the workplace and strives to promote diverse perspectives and inclusion. The difference is, we believe ‘culture fit’ could help us in the fight against perpetuating bias in the workplace.
Hardly’s platform uses blind hiring practices until after the candidate and company match. While we are still figuring out the balance between hiding too much or too little, the goal is for employers and employees to match without revealing factors such as age, race, gender and even which university you attended, which often lead to bias hiring. Unlike LinkedIn which requires a picture of oneself, Hardly allows users to express themselves in a more robust way. Instead of focusing on ones background, user profiles showcase their future. The platform utilizes assessments to analyze work-related values. Values link to organizational structure preferences, management styles, priorities, and more. This ultimately helps candidates and companies select one another based on complementary factors. The goal is for them to align on values, goals, and expectations rather than on superficial markers.
There’s one more factor that differentiates Hardly’s use of culture fit from companies who select only like-minded people. We help hiring managers focus on who is complementary rather than the same. While we do believe candidates and companies should share overarching values and goals, differences can be advantageous. That is part of being the right fit too! For example, it’s important to balance out risk-takers with risk-averse individuals in an organization. If you lean too much in one direction it could cause problems. It’s better to have both.
Let us know what information you would want disclosed or hidden, and how you think companies can fight workplace bias. We invite you to tell us stories of how the hiring process has included or excluded you in the past. As always, your feedback is an important part of our growth and development!
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A job application tracker keeps you focused, boosts accountability, enhances motivation, and expands your networking opportunities.
Job searching can often be, well, soul-crushing 😣. Maintaining confidence during a job search is challenging, but it is also crucial for success. Next time you need a boost, consider these strategies:
Most of us are our absolute best work selves when we start a new job. Our boss says “jump,” we say “how high.” We show up early, over-prepared, and volunteer for every opportunity for growth. Then a couple of weeks or months go by and naturally as we get more comfortable a few bad habits tend to rear their ugly heads.
Last month, we talked a lot about motivation: What type of motivators there are, how companies can keep employees engaged, and what works best for you. We quickly realized understanding motivators is only part of the equation when it comes to finding a company that fits your individual values. Another important aspect that determines whether or not you’ve found your match is your definition of work-life balance. In other words, do you like your work and personal life to bleed together or be kept separate? Lastly, there is the matter of organizational culture. Do you lean towards an individualistic model of management or a collective one? These three aspects combined make up one’s work-life values.
Recently, Hardly’s consumer insights have pointed towards four different work-life value profiles. Based on consumer research, we found many people fall into one of the following categories with slight variations based on where they are in their career trajectory:
If your work is also your passion, you are probably in this category. Discoverers and Trailblazers think outside the box and want to be on the cutting edge of their field. They find themselves motivated at work simply because of internal desires. They love the challenge without a need for additional rewards. Therefore, they allow their work to permeate throughout their lives. While everyone needs money to live, these curious employees are more concerned with whether their work is engaging and purposeful.
Visually, their work-life balance is like a swirl with work and play mixed together. You might find discoverers and trailblazers talking about work with their friends over dinner or reading articles on the topic just for fun. As one survey participant described, work-life balance is “being self-employed, having a daily blend of life and project work.” Others might burn out from a lack of delineation, but members of this group are energized by this style of work.
Discoverers and Trailblazers fit best with a company culture that values adaptability and agility over rules and tradition. Given the freedom to try new things, they love to be a force of change for the greater good. They prefer to be given more freedom and flexibility to make changes as they see fit. When their boss offers them the opportunity to do things differently, they thrive.
This work-life style’s favorite perk is flexible dress codes, business travel, and employee outings so they can continue to blend work and play.
So what’s the difference? Discoverers are still novices. They like to try new things but aren’t necessarily leading the pack with their new ideas. Trailblazers are a bit more seasoned and are innovating at a higher level and willing to take more risks to make their vision a reality.
This group holds the most “traditional” work-life values. Apprentices and Captains are happy to pay their dues in the beginning and earn the benefits that come with being at the top. Their motto is “work hard, play hard.” They separate their personal life from their professional one, believing turning their passion into a paycheck would ruin it. Apprentices and Captains believe structure and clear expectations are required to be productive. They value efficiency and are more inclined to push themselves when stimulated by external benefits, rewards, praise, and above all, respect. Having their hard work acknowledged by other people and/or in exchange for something quantifiable sustains their engagement.
They value giving their all to their job when they are present. Then, checking out completely when it’s time to enjoy friends, family, and hobbies. As one participant stated, work-life balance is when “work stays as work, and my time off is respected.”
Apprentices and Captains fit best with a company culture that respects level of rank and responsibility. They value a chain of command and specific processes. Apprentices and Captains prefer organizational cultures that care less about face time or hours online and more about accomplishing tasks. In addition, praise from the boss goes a long way. The best perks to entice this group are early Fridays, milestone gifts, and performance bonuses.
The difference between the two is that Apprentices are still at the bottom of the totem pole but are eager to climb the corporate ladder. Captains have already worked their way up and are role models for those they manage. To the Apprentice, a Captain’s success represents a promise that hard work pays off in the long run.
Collaborators and Mentors are a bit more nuanced. They are motivated by outside forces, but they don’t mind if their personal and professional lives become intertwined. A survey participant nailed this idea when saying, “[work life balance is…] enough sleep, eating healthy, time to workout/hobbies, but paid enough.” Their balance comes from their sense of duty to others and being able to complete personal tasks throughout the day alongside work.
Collaborators and Mentors don’t mind answering emails on the weekends or entertaining clients in the evening. But, their high level of productivity is dependent on others acknowledging their accomplishments. In addition, they like to pursue goals as a team rather than individually. Their motto is usually “we win together, and lose together!”
Collaborators and Mentors match well with a company culture that functions like a large family or tribe. They love to be surrounded by like-minds and want to make sure there is consensus among colleagues before moving forward with new ideas. Believing each person is a valuable member of the team, they don’t want to feel like they are competing against their coworkers. They flourish at a company where getting to know one another holistically is encouraged and rewards are intertwined with collaboration and socializing outside of work. Their favorite perks are wellness programs, free social outings after work (hello, trivia night), and employee discounts on everything from gym memberships to meals.
Earlier in their career, Collaborators work well with those at the same level as them. On the other hand, Mentors are more focused on facilitating interdisciplinary work across the company. They lead their teams while fostering open dialogue amongst employees of all ranks. Many times, Mentors are protective of their younger Collaborators and invest a lot of time in nurturing their growth.
Strivers and Challengers are highly motivated by internal feelings of autonomy, mastery, and connection to their projects. However, they still value separation of church and state (metaphorically). Feelings of accomplishment and purpose at work drive intrinsic separators, and they like to detach from work and experience these same feelings from friends, family, and hobbies.
Their work provides a great amount of fulfillment in their lives, but it is not everything. They are at their best when they can compartmentalize the two as they see fit. As one participant stated, “my ideal work-life balance would be the ability to have a complete disconnect between work and personal life. I’m fine with talking shop outside office hours with other folks, but I want to be able to control when and where.” Strivers and Challengers are most productive when they are able to dive deeper into their specific interests and have a designated workspace to concentrate.
People in this camp fit best with companies that foster a bit of competition. Strivers and Challengers are very self-motivated and prefer to work for organizations that focus on achievement at an individual level. They typically have tunnel vision when working on a project and hold themselves to a high standard. In addition, they want to work for companies that stress individual accountability and self-promotion. They appreciate it when their boss offers them a challenging assignment and respects their free time. This work-life value profile’s favorite perks are professional development stipends, unlimited vacation time, and stock options. They also value companies that promote employees based on individual performance.
While both prefer working solo, Strivers are still trying to prove their individual value to a company whereas Challengers have most likely either reached the top where they get to call the shots or have gone out on their own. For example, Challengers make excellent solo-consultants, writers, artists, etc. Basically, the more they can tie their own work to their success, the better. Both tend to be successful at entrepreneurial endeavors due to their ambition and intrinsic motivation.
These four work-life value profiles are trending but are not yet set in stone. We would love your input to get a better idea of what other buckets exist and which work-life values are most popular. Click here to check out our app and take the survey to find out which work-life value you’re most aligned with. We look forward to incorporating your answers!
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A job application tracker keeps you focused, boosts accountability, enhances motivation, and expands your networking opportunities.
Job searching can often be, well, soul-crushing 😣. Maintaining confidence during a job search is challenging, but it is also crucial for success. Next time you need a boost, consider these strategies:
Most of us are our absolute best work selves when we start a new job. Our boss says “jump,” we say “how high.” We show up early, over-prepared, and volunteer for every opportunity for growth. Then a couple of weeks or months go by and naturally as we get more comfortable a few bad habits tend to rear their ugly heads.
How to motivate employees and keep them engaged is a question management teams continue to ask themselves. Long gone are the days when Joe joined the firm right after graduation, was promised a pension in exchange for loyalty, and stayed for 20+ years at the same company. Now, the reality is searching for jobs has become more like a dating game. It’s not enough for a job to offer a livable salary and standard medical benefits. Employees ask themselves whether the brand matches their values, what the company culture is like, and how the organization will contribute to their personal and professional growth.
However, figuring out the best practices to motivate employees isn’t just about getting the best talent to choose your company over others. A Forbes article states highly-engaged teams are on average 21% more profitable and have 59% less turnover. Earlier this month, we explored how employees could motivate themselves intrinsically and extrinsically. Here are some tips on how companies can motivate employees by celebrating milestones effectively.
While my motto has always been the more celebrations the better, the event must be linked to a specific achievement or mission in a work setting. It’s like when you tell children, “Good job!” without telling them what it is for. They don’t know which behavior to repeat. So, it’s mucho importante to make sure whether it is a gift, party, or pat on the back, you provide a clear explanation to go along with it.
Secondly, when celebrating an individual, team, or everyone in the organization, connect the dots to how their actions fulfill the mission. Oftentimes in the daily grind, we lose sight of the big picture, but zooming out reminds employees why they do what they do. By mixing the extrinsic motivation with intrinsic feelings of being part of a greater purpose, you keep your employees doubly engaged.
Another way to motivate employees is to show you see them as whole people, not just workers. The best way to do this is to celebrate personal milestones.
Try congratulating them on anniversaries, baby showers, and accomplishments related to their hobbies. One time at work, my boss took the team out for lunch to celebrate a colleague who had just run a marathon. Doing this shows your employees they are valued and cared for in more ways than one. Additionally, well-rounded employees who have a healthy work-life balance are less likely to burn out, break down, or quit. Celebrating non-work-related achievements, even in small ways, is a great way to encourage this balance and implement a company-wide “life first” policy.
As a manager, you might feel overwhelmed by the idea of having to make a grand gesture every time a team member does something celebration-worthy. However, when it comes to motivating employees, the level of thoughtfulness is more important than the level of extravagance.
Something as simple as buying an employee’s favorite breakfast sandwich and leaving it on his or her desk with a note goes a long way. Want to celebrate the whole team but don’t have the budget for an office party? Give them an early Friday as a way to say thank you for their hard work.
Remember, as a manager, it’s not all on you. The best strategy to motivate employees is to create a company culture of gratitude. By encouraging employees to celebrate their colleagues’ hard work and achievements, appreciation becomes woven into the fabric of the company. This creates a breeding ground for productivity, high performance, and loyalty. Just like in the Olympics, many athletes give it their all for their teammates. What drives them is not wanting to disappoint one another. They encourage one another to be their personal best.
While these tips are sure to motivate employees to continue doing great work, there is a bonus. Celebrations offer an opportunity for colleagues to connect in new ways and even become friends. In a recent meeting, a leader at Hardly expressed that one of the keys to having a happy and healthy work-life was comradery within the company. So remember, colleagues that play together, stay together!
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A job application tracker keeps you focused, boosts accountability, enhances motivation, and expands your networking opportunities.
Job searching can often be, well, soul-crushing 😣. Maintaining confidence during a job search is challenging, but it is also crucial for success. Next time you need a boost, consider these strategies:
Most of us are our absolute best work selves when we start a new job. Our boss says “jump,” we say “how high.” We show up early, over-prepared, and volunteer for every opportunity for growth. Then a couple of weeks or months go by and naturally as we get more comfortable a few bad habits tend to rear their ugly heads.
In elementary school, I planted trees; cleaned up the beach; and made recycle, reduce, and reuse posters every Earth Day. After a month of learning about “going green” and estimating our own carbon footprint, I remember telling my parents they couldn’t purchase an SUV, and we needed to stop using plastic straws and be more sustainable.
Since then, my environmental awareness has taken a nosedive. However, this spring, I have been thinking about whether remote work supports sustainable living. Are we all sustainable superheroes now that we don’t commute in our pollution producing cars? Or, have we become extra energy consumers working from home?
While the future of work is unknown, we can all agree that going back to a commute would be tough. Eliminating daily commutes to work in gas guzzling cars is a major point for the affirmative side. No commute means better air quality, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and less consumption of fossil fuels. Sounds like sustainable living to me!
Highway vehicles alone put out almost 35% of the total nitrogen dioxide and contribute to the 3.3 million world-wide deaths due to poor air quality every year. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 29% of greenhouse gas emissions in the USA came from transportation in 2017. Conversely, remote workers in the United States avoid emitting 3.6 million tons of greenhouse gasses every year, which is the equivalent of planting 91 million trees.
While getting to one office might have had a negative impact, working in one might have been positive. Companies were making huge efforts to reduce their carbon footprint before the pandemic. Fast Company shared how Shopify launched a sustainability fund in 2019, committing to invest at least $5 million every year into technology and projects to fight climate change. Since then, they have offered remote work to all of their employees indefinitely.
Whereas before they could control their sustainability by making environmentally friendly choices for one massive building, they are now dealing with “more than 5,000 offices scattered around the globe. All these offices have different heating systems, different energy grids, and each employee making different decisions now that they’re untethered from a central office.” Therefore, sustainability is not only less controllable but also less trackable. Without clear data, the jury is still out on which is better for the planet.
In addition to the inability to track everyone’s home energy usage, where you live and work complicates the questions of whether working from home is having a positive or negative effect on sustainable living. BBC brings up two important factors.
The first factor is workers in other countries, such as Norway, were using electric vehicles at high rates. Therefore, the lack of a commute is far less impactful there than in other countries that are highly reliant on petroleum, including the US and UK. In other words, sustainable living practices were already in place.
Additionally, cities where public transportation is used at large to get to and from work might not see any major changes in energy consumed since buses, trains, and metros are still running.
Secondly, where your energy comes from plays a role in determining whether working from home positively contributes to sustainable living. For example, if you live in Iceland (where a significant amount of clean geothermal energy powers commercial buildings), virtual work is not scoring you many brownie points. Conversely, if you live in a U.S. city where coal power is the main source of commercial electricity but many homes have solar power, remote work could have a positive impact.
Similarly, the temperature varies greatly across the U.S. and the globe. In places like Florida where the heat is treacherous, fossil fuels are pumping from every home all day and required in large office spaces. Therefore, cutting out the cooling of big buildings could be beneficial. Versus if you live in San Francisco where the weather is mostly mild, heating or cooling systems might be turned off when leaving the house so the change is negligible.
Do the small habits of individuals or the big changes at the corporate level make the difference? I don’t have the answer, but here is some food for thought:
On the other side of the coin, I see plastic Starbucks cups on everyone’s desk at the office, a product of getting their morning vice on the way to work. Yet, my guess is most drink the energizer from a reusable mug when working from home.
Also, what about the lights? In my apartment, I get great natural light all day so I don’t use much electricity, while my office is required to power overhead lights from 7am to 5pm.
Not everyone is environmentally conscious. Therefore, minor habits might not hold a candle to the millions of dollars that corporations can put into environmental efforts. For example, Zapier offset 647 tonnes of carbon through reforestation and Microsoft charges an internal fine of $15 per metric ton of carbon emission to encourage its departments to be as sustainable as possible.
At Hardly, we are striving to be environmentally conscious on all fronts. From our commitment to the sustainable packaging of products to our CEO’s use of S’well bottles, Hardly is making sure we do our part as a company of remote workers. Are you doing yours?
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A job application tracker keeps you focused, boosts accountability, enhances motivation, and expands your networking opportunities.
Job searching can often be, well, soul-crushing 😣. Maintaining confidence during a job search is challenging, but it is also crucial for success. Next time you need a boost, consider these strategies:
The coronavirus swept the globe in the spring of 2020. What we thought would be a temporary illness for some has become a pandemic for all, for months on end. While the continuous spread of the virus might be coming to an end shortly, the wounds are deep. Work-wise, the impact is mixed; some negative and some positive. As I began pondering the future of work post-pandemic, I found I had more questions than answers.
If you read my article from last week, you know that remote workers aren’t interested in going back to the office full-time. However, they are also missing the collaboration and community that in-person interactions bring. Companies are happy to reduce their expenses by not paying for large office buildings while maintaining a productive workforce. But they also recognize the need for some physical space at least part-time.
The future of work will move towards a hybrid model. Gone are the days where all employees commute to the same building and sit at the same desk from 9-5. However, working in isolation from makeshift home offices 100% of the time will not become the new normal. Companies will allow purpose to dictate the use of office space and employees will have a choice. But more is unknown than known about work in 2021; these are the macro questions I’m grappling with…
Remote work might provide more opportunities for underrepresented populations to thrive in the white-collar job market. On the other hand, going virtual might be one more thing that boxes them out. Specifically, I am interested in the impact remote work will have on women and gender inequality in the workforce. In a BBC interview, Melinda Gates said that women were clustered in low-paying jobs pre-pandemic, and therefore were 1.8 times more likely to lose their jobs. Women who didn’t lose their jobs were forced into balancing housework and work in an environment where they are both constant and competing.
In my eyes, there are two potential paths. First, remote work will help partners share household duties more equitably. Plus, the flexibility will prevent women from having to make difficult choices between children and career. Without long commutes and strict office hours, both parents will have the ability to work full-time if they choose, and participate in household chores such as cooking dinner, doing laundry, and picking up the kids. Men can spend more time inside the home engaging with their children and contributing to household chores, giving women more time to advance in their careers.
However, just because they can doesn’t mean they will. Jean-Nicolas Reyt states that women have a more difficult time advancing professionally because they are more likely to prioritize their family responsibilities over their careers. In the future, working from home might intensify these feelings making women less present, focused, and productive.
Remote work has expanded opportunities for international teams, but are domestic employees still more desirable? This year, our company hired four international employees, all in different time zones. From Thailand to Japan to London, Hardly has been able to pull talent from every end of the globe. Part of me thinks we are trendsetters. Without location being a factor, the talent pool is only narrowed by language and experience. With new platforms to make working with international teams seamless, distance will play a less prominent role in hiring.
Now, we have a “virtual first” style of work: designed for the remote worker rather than adapted. Everything will be saved to a cloud, and onboarding processes will be automated. Hiring international remote workers won’t require managers to do duplicative work or go out of their way, it will just be the standard. While there are many positives to hiring internationally, there could be negative consequences for the domestic workforce. US workers might be pushed out by companies trying to maximize profits by hiring people from countries where the cost of living is significantly lower and therefore, so is their wage. But currently, companies are rewarded for supporting America and Americans through job creation. Just like there has been a push to buy local, hiring local might become a new grassroots movement.
The pandemic has caused many of us to become more humanitarian. While some believe a shutdown is the best way to save lives, others believe keeping the economy running is the protection we need. Either way, we all agree that human lives have value and should therefore be treated with care. But what makes someone human and what makes us care about them? Without the break room chats or company holiday parties, the person on the other side of the email becomes faceless.
Some say they know less about their coworkers since working from home. People don’t discuss their children in passing, their quirky habits aren’t observable from across the room, and personality goes unseen with more communication via email. Without the ability to connect in-person, we run the risk of being degraded to worker bees.
However, some have had the opposite experience. Zoom has provided them a window into coworkers’ lives outside of the office in a very real way. A colorful painting in a colleague’s living room may lead to a conversation about their experience in Thailand, or seeing books may lead to a conversation of Russian authors.
If video chats and Slack conversations aren’t enough to help management form relationships with their team, they might not be as empathetic when a personal matter comes up. Employees won’t feel cared for and therefore won’t feel connected. On the company side, a lack of physical spaces makes it more difficult to embody a mission or culture. In other words, companies could become empty shells where people simply work to earn a paycheck and nothing more. A soulless company attracts soulless employees who only complete the bare minimum because they don’t believe in the work they are doing. To avoid this, companies will have to encourage coworkers to converse on a personal level and find a way to keep the company’s personality alive and well in a virtual setting.
If I’m honest, I have so many more questions about the future of work. Will people become more or less defined by their work? Will there be a great migration from urban areas to small suburbs? What new skills do you need to be a competitive candidate in the remote work scene? These topics may be seeds for next year’s articles but until then, use them as food for thought and if you have any predictions about the future of work, leave us a comment on our social media below!
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