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While the world’s economies are still waiting to start recovery, after an abrupt stop caused by the pandemic which left many companies bankrupt and millions without jobs, several of our clients contacted us to start headhunting for them.

We thought at first that this was just by chance, or that it was connected to an industry that wasn’t affected, after all, who was hiring at present time, but this wasn’t the case. And then we started hearing about similar things from other headhunters and within industries that were affected by the pandemic.

I managed to arrange several conference calls with some of our clients that had headhunting requests, and just to make sure that this wasn’t some isolated case I spoke to our clients from New York, Tirana and Sarajevo. I was lucky that The Headhunter Group operates in a dozen countries, so it wasn’t hard for me to get a more global picture of what was happening in the markets. After just a few conversations, it became clearer why some companies were looking for employees even though they were posting losses and not hiring since mid-March.

“We’re not taking anyone in the next couple of weeks, but when this dies down, we want the best possible candidates ready to start quickly” – said a manager of mid-sized company from Sarajevo to me. Quite similar explanations were given to me by other clients. They suffered losses, some minor, some quite significant losses. But they understood that very soon the economy will be picking up, and when it does, they wanted to be ready, and ahead of their competitors.

The more I thought about it from their perspective, to more apparent it became, though we are living through very difficult times, very soon we will be up and running, and opportunities in the market will be incredible for both employers and employees. Those millions that were left without jobs in the past two months will be looking for new jobs, and the same will happen with those employers that were forced to let them go.

In the next couple of years, we will witness an extraordinary movement in the employment markets. Millions will change jobs, and quicker than ever before in history. Candidates will look for new and better employment opportunities, try new things, get qualifications for different jobs, while employers will look to find new candidates to fill the positions that will open up as soon as companies are up and running. And in this very near future, the companies that have started to recruit already, will have an enormous advantage over their competition.

We’ve become conditioned to think that working hard merely means working long hours. But does it matter how much you work if you don’t deliver great results? Most of us have heard the cliché “work smarter, not harder,” but we often do little to heed its wisdom.

Working smarter means getting the best results with the least amount of wasted time and energy. It requires stepping back to think through how we work, not just how much work we do or how many hours we log doing it. If you work efficiently for the same number of hours you’re working now, how much more could you accomplish? Try implementing these five techniques and see.

Prioritize Tasks

Prioritize work projects based on the amount of work involved as well as the scheduled due dates. Allow a sufficient amount of time for each project, but set a timer for yourself as a challenge to get the work done faster. Don’t jump back and forth between tasks. Focus on one at a time, using a productivity technique known as “chunking,” and allow yourself to be absorbed in doing good work. When the timer goes off, take a break and switch gears onto a different kind of task to keep yourself engaged.

Keep a Clean Workspace

If you want to work faster, it’s helpful to have everything accessible and organized. The more time you hunt through files—or worse, piles on your desk—the more distracted you become. A clean workspace helps clear your mind, too. Keep your desk in order and your computer desktop clutter-free so you can get right to the task at hand. Spend a little time each day putting your work away and cleaning up, so your workspace is ready for your best work when you return.

Minimize Distractions

When working on projects, try to minimize any distractions. Lower the ringer on your cell phone and store it away from view. Turn off any other noise, such as television programs, or any music that doesn’t help you focus on your work. Establish expectations with your co-workers and shut your door to avoid disturbances. Don’t avoid socializing with your colleagues, but keep it to break times so you’re not bouncing in and out of work mode.

Avoid Busywork

It’s easy to gravitate toward tasks you can quickly check off the list. Especially when you spend the whole day feeling distracted and unproductive, knocking out some mindless busywork sounds pretty nice. But often those tasks aren’t helping you deliver good results. Set a limited time each day to check off any necessary busywork, but save your best hours for your most important tasks.

Break up Big Projects

A major project can seem too overwhelming to tackle. You keep pushing it to the bottom of the pile, even though you know it’s important. Instead of avoiding it, try breaking that big project into a series of small tasks. Choose a few to complete during the week and plan those into your work. The feeling that you’re making progress toward a big goal will inspire you in your other tasks.

Smart Work

When it comes to working productively, the degree of effort you put into a project does not always mean a quality product will result. If tasks take too long because you’re tired, distracted, or disorganized, it’s a clear sign you’re working too hard.

To be an efficient and productive worker means prioritizing your work and allowing sufficient time to do it correctly. Practicing good work habits will ensure positive, consistent results. The most important step you can take toward working more efficiently is to make a plan that you can follow each day.

Ways To Protect Your Business During Coronavirus Outbreak

With the increasing number of cases due to the Coronavirus outbreak, it is important for businesses of every kind to take stock of the situation and follow government advisory to minimise loss and ensure the safety of their employees.

COVID-19 has disrupted the normalcy of life across the world. There is panic everywhere: at home, in the market, at work, and for business owners it becomes even more important to assure their team of their company’s commitment of taking care of them in such trying situations. It could be a simple assurance of salaries paid on time to providing healthcare support for anyone affected.

Just as you are taking safety measures to ensure this disease stays away from you, your business also needs a safety check to beat this virus. Here are some ways to protect your Business during Coronavirus outbreak –

1. Formulate A Plan

Due to the spread of COVID-19, many businesses have already put in place safety measures to protect their company and employees. On the other hand, some are revamping their emergency plan to include this new pandemic for the future. If there is no emergency plan in place, this is a good time to make one for today and the future.

An emergency plan not only outlines the steps a company will take in such times but also the measures to be undertaken for the protection of employees and businesses. It becomes the guide to follow and must include information such as measures to protect employees, emergency contacts, business operations and any deliverable measures.

2. Establish Work From Home Procedure

In normal circumstances, the Work from Home step up would not be considered but due to the Coronavirus pandemic, these are not normal times. Depending on your industry and business profile, you can try this approach to ensure critical work gets done without having your employees to commute to work. Set some rules around this process such as logging in at the right time, breaks, communication set up, etc will give a sense of professionalism between your employees and clients. Setting up video conferencing and morning meetings will ensure the day’s workload is set up and achieved by the end of the day.

3. Keep Updating Managers & Employees

Nobody likes to be left out of communication, especially during these trying times. The situation is constantly evolving due to the spread of the Coronavirus and its impact on businesses. As a business owner, you will have to keep the channels of communication open and keep updating your managers about any latest development on COVID-19 and its implications. Check the news for any government advisories and regulations related to coronavirus and update your line managers accordingly.

In such times, always make it a point to issue a memo, email or voice note to your employees too. This will make them feel assured as well as reduce panic in their minds. Ensure your managers are also doing the same. This will ensure transparency and common messaging, thereby eliminating any doubts from the minds of your employees.

4. Sanitise Your Workplace

With everything going on to ensure employee satisfaction and expectation, do take the time to fumigate and sanitise your workplace. Depending on your industry and servicing, there might be some employees required to make their presence at work. Establish standard operating procedures for cleanliness and sanitisation. Ensure work desk and floors are cleaned with disinfectants, stock up on hand sanitizers, issue directives and print outs suggesting washing hand techniques and using soap, make sure sick employees stay at home.

These are some of the safe bet options to protect your Business during Coronavirus outbreak. Following the above tips, businesses can position themselves to weather the storm caused by Coronavirus and ensure employees and clients remain safe and healthy.

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie

Without co-operation real success is impossible. We can only do so much by ourselves. By channeling efforts, talents and resources of other people, we can not only succeed faster and easier but also help them utilize their God given abilities. Only by doing so can we become all that we can be in this life which is very short in reality.

Gandhi could not have accomplished the feat he did without the cooperation of millions of Indians. Christianity would not be growing in the speed it is if its believers would not continue to expand the ministry. Napoleon could not have conquered and won so many victories without the help of his so many soldiers. Roosevelt would not have been able to get America out of depression if he didn’t have cooperation of so many Americans, both parties and the Media.

There’s a saying “Team Work Makes a Dream Work” which is essentially true because one is a very small number for greatness. Every great enterprise has begun at least with a team of 2 people. Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak led to the founding of Apple, 5 talented musicians led to the formation of The Beatles and the story goes on and on. Bo Schembechler says when your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing.

Generals like Julius Caesar won their victories attained the pinnacle of power and success by rousing and energizing their followers while recruiting many more at the same time. Napoleon had millions who were ready to go to the battlefield and die for him at any moment. We cannot expect any great success without the helping hands and minds of other people. Bigger the enterprise to be carried out, there is a need of a bigger team.

However, the ability to get a lot of people to work together is an extraordinary quality which if mastered is extremely beneficial. Coaches like Vince Lombardi had the ability to cause an ordinary team to become an extra-ordinary team, which attained success unparalleled before in the history of the football games. Similarly, Hitler got the entire country to do what he wanted done within a few short years. If Hitler’s purpose were constructive, the world would have benefited a lot from it.

A true leader is supposed to help his people become better as the time goes by. Thus, a leader needs to be a person of high quality and character who is not swayed by ordinary desires and emotions and can stand alone on his feet if need be. An absolute conviction in the part of the leader is of utmost necessity. With absolute conviction, even demagogues have won the hearts and minds of many people. Rulers like Hitler and Mussolini used their leadership that ultimately caused their own destruction, including the destruction of their nation and people.

A good leader must be continuously learning the best way to lead his people. A good leader also must be tapped on to somebody and getting counseling from someone who is ahead of him in life so that he can be of greater benefit to his people. Leaders are people with visions and after they are clear about their visions, they go out and find people to accomplish their vision.

Roosevelt was an exemplary leader who took America out of depression and contributed to the beginning of a new era. A man of tremendous vision, Roosevelt was able to bring both parties into working together for the first time in the entire history of the United States. This mastermind that he created was the only reason why the devastating recession was wiped out of the face of America. With his knack in dealing with people, Roosevelt created a power that is unparalleled. A good leader will always find enough people to accomplish his vision.

Leaders are people of magnetic personality. The words and thoughts they express are always positive. They always have people around them.

History is replete with individuals who have accomplished feats unimaginable by causing people to team-up in the direction of their causes. One strong believer is all that is needed to create a mass that can accomplish the impossible. A winning team is an ultimate goal of the team leader. The spirit of the team works as a single individual and when that happens nothing is impossible. There is a tremendous power in unity.

A husband-wife team if good can create a great marriage, but if the team work does not turn out good, the entire family can get devastated. Divorces, single parenting and lawsuits that are seen in the present society are mere consequences of not being able to work as a team within the marriage. Thus, in every area of life, there is a need of better team work. Similarly, in politics better team work will create better government activities irrespective of which party is in power.

Organizations like United Nations, European Union, and NATO were established with a desire between statesmen of different countries to work together not only during the time of crisis but also during the time of peace for mutual prosperity and well-being. Alliances like this have made the world a better place to live. Even the underdeveloped countries are benefiting from alliances like this in the economic areas. Thus, teamwork is an indispensable need among people who are looking to do or become something.

You’ve selected the right outfit, practiced your answers and readied yourself to negotiate compensation. But before you arrive at the interview, you must practice a few strategies to reduce stress and ready yourself for a power play.

Consider these mental, environmental and physical ways of dealing with the stress that typically accompanies a job interview:

Use visual imagery to reduce stress

Close your eyes and imagine a scene, place or event (real or imaginary) that is peaceful, serene, happy and/or beautiful. Try to incorporate all your senses into the image – what you can see, hear, smell, taste and feel.
You can also imagine the interview going well, walking through it step by step to improve your confidence and reduce your stress. The mind cannot differentiate between real and imaginary, so what you feed it is accepted as truth.

Persuade yourself with positive, rational thinking

Observe your thoughts and write down every time you have a negative thought for a few days. Once you are aware of your negative thoughts, take an honest look at them to see if they have any basis in reality. Frequently, when you challenge a negative thought it will lose power or disappear.
You can also replace negative thoughts with positive affirmations. Make yourself a list of positive things to say to yourself each morning and evening. Post it on the bathroom mirror and say them aloud. Try to repeat throughout the day whenever possible. Habits don’t happen immediately (experts say it takes 60 days to make it a habit) so be patient with yourself. Repetition is the answer!

Reduce the importance of the event in your mind

Try to compare it to something else in the past that you’ve done that was as big and important to you. Remind yourself that this will not be the first or the last opportunity of this kind that you’ll encounter.
You can also reframe the event in your mind. Instead of viewing it as an all-important interview, think of it as an exciting chance to meet new people and expand your network. You never know what will happen! Reduce uncertainties by asking questions when you schedule the interview and by researching and learning all you can to feel more prepared. Listen to music or relaxation tapes to calm yourself.

Use Progressive Muscular Relaxation

Squeeze a group of muscles, hold for a few seconds and then relax the muscles as much as possible. This can relieve the tense feeling and is particularly effective when combined with deep breathing and visual imagery. Perform slow, deep breathing. Breathe in through your nose and out through the mouth. Concentrate on doing this at least four times.

Bottom Line:

Whatever you do, be kind to yourself during this process. Remember that change does not happen overnight and practice makes perfect. Take a deep breath, put a smile on your face, and meet that interview head-on!

“We are the difference and we make the difference”

Why the HeadHunter?

As a human resource company, the Headhunter issuing the ratings provides transparency, credibility, and technical expertise. In this way, all stakeholders can have confidence that the results are based on verifiable data and without political interference.

The HeadHunter Group is a premium human resources service provider to corporate and individual clients in North America and Europe. Its 150 human resources experts and specialists serve clients in its Huston, Texas headquarters as well as in Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
Its main avenues of service are headhunting, recruitment, staff leasing, training, market research, and salary surveys.

Living out its commitment to workforce and workplace diversity, dignity, and fair employment for all, the Group also operates the LGBTIQ Employment Equality Index in all Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
It has subsidiaries including Karriera, an online job posting site, and has founded a corporate foundation, Rini Albania Foundation. It is currently implementing a job training and placement USAID- founded project, People First, in Albania.

Here are 20 trends in Human Resources business professionals will be talking about in 2020. In a rapidly evolving global economy business leaders need to be mindful of these trends.

Permanent Flexibility – The term, coined by Mercer in their 2018 Global Talent Trends Survey refers to flexible work arrangements that are in flow with a modern digital lifestyle. Flexibility involves rethinking how work is done and by whom.

Gig Economy – 1099 to replace 9-to-5. The gig economy will see a large majority of the workforce shift away from full-time jobs into free agent employees. Intuit estimates that by 2020, 40% of American workers will be independent contractors.

Remote work will be even more remote – SHRM finds that globalization will lead to an increasingly diverse workforce, contracted on a per-project basis, oftentimes at a lower cost. You may soon be working with team mates nine or 10 time zones away.

English continues to be dominant in international business – When companies merge and acquire each other at a global level, English remains the de-facto tongue. In fact, it is spoken by one in four people in the world. English is natively spoken in over 60 nations. Interestingly, when Nestle, the Swiss chocolate company enforced English as a company standard, it saw greater efficiency improvements in purchasing and hiring.

HR Chatbots – Chatbots are already being used in customer service, IT technical support, and resume parsing. By 2020 we will see a greater reliance on chatbots, especially as a way to aid employees with the onboarding process. The challenge? Putting together a Frequently Asked Questions list into a chatbot program. The benefit? In the long run, having a robot field commonly asked HR questions (i.e. benefits, compensation, retirement) can free up HR’s time elsewhere.

 Reskilling of Jobs – Gaps in this knowledge present significant obstacles if workgroups are not up to speed in their digital prowess. For instance, Gartner research shows that 67% of business leaders believe their company will no longer be competitive if it does not become significantly digitized by 2020. Project managers should work with HR departments to appraise job functions, conduct a job analysis, divide jobs into micro-containers, and then redistribute these functions to gig workers (or train existing workers in new workflows). 

Data-Driven HR – HR departments now have a deluge of information available at their fingertips, including employee demographics, recruitment data, and performance KPIs. Using this data, we can make less biased hiring decisions, reduce adverse impact, and promote employees with a higher likelihood of company loyalty. Too much data can cause confusion or “paralysis by analysis.” Worried? That’s your common sense kicking in. Check in with team mates when a candidate seems too good to be true. The best HR leaders leverage data, yes, but they still check in with their gut. When your instinctual guttural reaction defies the data we recommend looping in another decision maker or adding another step in the selection process. Realize that data, at the end of the day is imperfect – play it safe!

Automation and A.I. – Much of the hiring process has become automated, and accordingly, devoid of scrutiny. Search engines, applicant tracking systems, and email automation have in some ways commoditized the job search to a simple keyword match. Candidates that know how to game the system have an advantage over individuals who are honest, but don’t know the tips and tricks Applicant Tracking Systems use to screen incoming candidates. Your best bet when trying to hire a rockstar/unicorn? Look in your network and not on job boards says the Undercover Recruiter. Employees hired through referral are hired 55 percent faster than those who come through a career site. They also stay longer and have greater job satisfaction!

Continuous Performance Management – Performance Reviews used to be a once-a-year occurrence which determined an employee’s annual raise. This dreadful experience was carried out seriously and with highest formality. No longer.

As jobs continue to become more autonomous and decisions get made from the bottom up, companies are realizing that 1-on-1 meetings between manager and employee help move projects along faster. Management shouldn’t be a bottleneck but an enabler. As such, most managers conduct weekly or bi-weekly one-on-one meetings in order to prevent bottlenecks from happening.  SHRM, 2018 celebrates this shift away from the once-a-year performance management process.

Incentivized Healthcare – “Corporate wellness programs aren’t just being used at shiny big companies like Apple. Organizations are seeing the value in leveraging healthcare to both lure talent and streamline a costly expense.” -Evan Tunis of E&M Global Insurance.

Organizations that encourage their workforce to be healthy showed lower rates of absenteeism and turnover, and showed higher rates of engagement and productivity.

Greater Disposable Income – Low cost technology and easier barriers to entry for lifestyle brands on social media will make it cheaper to create customized niche products. Over the next decade, a growing middle class will greatly increase the number of consumers purchasing unique products. Already the United States has an average personal disposable income of $3,258 per month.

Universal Basic Income – Universal basic income would provide all citizens of a country with a given sum of money. Small pilots and experiments have been tested in Ontario, the Netherlands, Finland, and Italy, with varying degrees of success. Critics argue that it would be too expensive to implement and would create a disincentive to work. Proponents, however, believe that it could be cheaper in the long run, and would counteract the effects of poverty, promoting creativity, entrepreneurship, and global trade. We believe that the will of the public will determine whether universal basic income remains a utopian dream, or a feasible undertaking. If enough people wish to eradicate poverty, we will.

Slack & WhatsApp overtake Outlook – Teams will naturally gravitate to the most easy to use communication tool on the market, even if that tool is not an approved communications channel. E-mail chains on Outlook and G-mail have become inefficient and impossible to sift through, with many workers preferring the group based messaging available through apps like Slack, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. HR can choose to go with the flow, and tap on to the channels used, or try going against the grain to promote standardized channels.

On the Job Training becomes standard – New employees used to take the first day (sometimes even the first week!) learning about the company before they could actually perform the job. Employees in 2020, regardless of their job function, will be expected to get hands on as soon as possible, putting additional pressure on HR to get new hires onboarded as fast as possible. Possible avenues for on the job training include gamification, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality.

Shrinking HR Teams & Outsourced HR – HR Trend Institute 2017 predicts that the number of jobs in HR will decrease as the level of automation increases. For example, the work that talent sourcers used to do is now being performed by search engines and applicant tracking systems – the role has been automated to a simple software purchase. Similarly, the need for customized, flexible, by-the-hour, outsourced HR solutions has risen sharply.

HR becomes involved in strategy – A 2017 Forbes article headline read: Why Every CEO Should Give HR A Seat At The Table. They described the shift happening in Human Resource departments worldwide. With a transient workforce, a lack of clearly defined structure, and a bottom-up approach to project management, CEOs and CFOs alike need to leverage the expertise of their HR department when making projections, opening up new revenue streams, or deciding to shrink and expand operations.

Smartphones & Tablets > Laptops & Desktops – Intuit predicts that “smartphones, tablets, and other mobile computing devices will become the go-to computing devices for most of the world.” We think they’re over-emphasizing a developing trend here, but regardless, the rise in smartphone and tablet use present a growing worry for HR and IT administrators working in sectors like finance and healthcare where compliance and privacy are paramount.

Individuals become brands. Brands leverage individuals – Anyone can create a brand on social media and gain renown, practically overnight. As the lines blur between the real world and the digital world, brands and individuals will morph together into a term known as “brandividuals.” Candidates with strong social media followings will have greater leverage in the job interview, since they can take their network anywhere. Internet celebrities (brands in themselves), will partner with companies that have a similar audience overlap with their target market. Similarly, companies will leverage the social networks of individuals in order to gain relevance in the younger market. Takeaway: When follower counts become the scorecard of success, how will HR make fair hiring decisions?

Personal Accountability – Got a problem? Google it, don’t bother me with it. When facing a problem, how often have we heard the term: “Just Google it.” The phrase “Just Google it” is an easily quipped invitation to figure it out for yourself.

Whether it be the simple setup of an e-mail account or the creation and management of a job posting online, employees will be expected to know how to navigate the digital environment. [Blue-collar workers included].

Managers simply won’t have the time to micromanage every detail of their workers’ jobs. For the sake of saving onboarding time, HR Technologist even anticipates that employees will be expected to BYOD, or “Bring Your (Their) Own Device” into work. Managers will expect new hires to show personal initiative and demonstrate the formulation of intelligent questions that drive projects forward, not waste the intellectual capital of their brightest players for the sake of keeping the laggards up to speed.

Ironic that in an age where we are more interconnected than ever, each individual will be expected to run asynchronously and autonomously. Without question, the biggest trend we anticipate happening in 2020 is the acceptance of personal accountability as the office norm.

Concluding Thoughts

Employees that will thrive in the economy of 2020 will exhibit a do-it-yourself attitude.

As we rethink how work is being done, traditional 9-to-5 work will be replaced by an on-demand marketplace of contract-based specialists.

HR leaders will be more taxed than ever as they attempt to hire the project managers that will bring these projects together. Slowly but without fail, the digital world will overlap more with the real world. Workers will be expected to know how to research their own information, and stretch their skillset as the need arises, or risk being displaced. Luckily, a renewed emphasis on cultivating an organization’s talent will mean talented Human Resources professionals skilled in identifying talent will be highly sought after.

We anticipate that the best HR leaders will be welcomed at the strategic boardroom meetings – even though each member in attendance may be a talking head on a virtual monitor.

Source: https://kleinhrsolutions.com/20-hr-trends-everyone-will-be-talking-about-in-2020/