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How to handle interview anxiety

An interview can be intimidating even if you are the perfect person for the job. Improving your performance during an interview can be a matter of learning to alleviate your anxiety.

Preparing for your interview can be extremely helpful.

• Read about the company and what they do
• Prepare your responses to common interview questions (strengths, weaknesses, plans for the future, etc.)
• Remind yourself of the achievements that make you worthy of the job

Change your mind-set about the interview

• Remember that the interview is the best time to understand whether the company culture aligns with your values
• Think about it as an opportunity to learn more about the organisation, and not just an opportunity for them to interview you

Small details

• Get a good night’s sleep
• Avoid caffeine
• Set aside the clothes you’ll be wearing (Dress for success!)
• Plan to get to the interview 15 minutes ahead of time

During the interview

• Focus on your breathing to calm yourself
• If you need, ask for a second to gather yourself
• Take water with you and take small sips between questions

Making safer workspaces

As employees return to office spaces, there is a growing concern as to how employees can protect themselves at work. It is crucial that employers carefully plan their work spaces to minimise the risk of COVID transmissions. Consider the following essential ways you can adapt your workspace to protect your employees and customers during these risky times.

Physical distancing
One of the most essential recommendations employers should follow is making sure that there is at least 4 square metres of space per person. Consider making adjustments to the layout of your office space to allow workers to maintain a 1.5 metre distance from each other. These may include wall / floor markings and signage to keep workers aware of the distancing measures. It can be helpful to review tasks and events that require closer interaction, and map alternative ways to complete these tasks while still allowing social distancing to take place.

Close contact work
If the nature of the work your employees have to engage in requires close contact, then extra care needs to be taken to make sure that you minimise putting your employees at risk. Consider minimising the number of people within an area at any given time, and marking off certain areas of the workspace for essential employees only. Steps like staggering start and end times for shifts, encouraging employees to form teams with workers that need to work together, and moving each group to a different area of the office where they still have separate access to facilities can help minimise risk of COVID.

Sanitation facilities
It is important to train all employees on the hygiene practices that will be in place at your office space. Consider signage in washrooms on handwashing protocols, providing well-stocked bathroom facilities and providing hand sanitiser in appropriate locations such as entries and exits. Regularly empty waste bins and encourage ventilation by opening windows and adjusting air-conditioning units to stop them from recirculating the same air.

Cleaning the office space
It is recommended that workspaces be cleaned at least once a day, and commonly used spaces are disinfected as regularly as possible. If your business is more customer-oriented, it may be useful to clean and disinfect more frequently. Surfaces that are constantly touched, like door handles, phones, EFTPOS machines, toilets and buttons should be disinfected as frequently as possible. Consider encouraging workers to disinfect their regularly used items like glasses and phones.

Personal protective equipment
Consider providing employees with PPE like masks, gloves and eye protection equipment to foster safer work conditions. It can be useful to consult with employees about the types of PPE they prefer, to ensure that their areas of concern are being addressed. If employees work in close proximity to each other or with customers where interaction time is longer, it can be useful to install screens or sneeze guards to shield workers from droplets. However, employers must remember that these screens also need to be cleaned and disinfected regularly.

Avoiding costly mis-hires

There is a growing demand for new employees as businesses open their doors again. However, a bad hire can damage the reputation of your business, impact the work environment and may force you to restart the recruitment process. Small businesses can be especially impacted by the significant expenses involved in hiring new employees. Business owners may want to consider using the following tips to avoid employing a bad hire.

Developing a culture fit
You may find that your business has a unique corporate culture that your employees thrive in. The best way to assess this is to have your team members meet the potential hire to allow both parties to understand the kind of culture that exists in your workspace.

Using this information to screen potential employees during interview stages improves your chances of finding a candidate who is likely to fit well into your team.

Role definition
While a culture fit is more likely to screen candidates who fit within your business’ values, it is key that your new hire is able to succeed in their actual responsibilities. Consider reviewing your job posting to make it more specific, relevant and gives the candidate a clear idea of what they can expect from this role. The job description should ideally include more specific key technical competencies, necessary soft skills, expected deliverables and revenue targets that the hire is expected to meet in that role. Detailed job expectations can also help in evaluating the employee’s performance in the future.

Effective on-boarding
If a new hire seemed like a good fit, but is not performing well, employers may want to examine the on-boarding process within the company. Failures in the on-boarding stages can include a lack of communication or expectations from the employee to work independently and without guidance within the first few weeks of employment. Consider communicating clear deliverables and establishing a point of contact for the employee for any support. Your new hires can also be a valuable source of feedback on your on-boarding process and help you identify gaps in your hiring stages.

Handling mis-hires
Finally, some businesses may still find that they ended up with the wrong person for the job. Hiring managers often have a large responsibility in hiring the wrong person, so treat termination as your last resort. Before immediately removing a poor fit from your business, consider having a conversation with the employee about their issues with meeting their deliverables. Some issues can be solved with appropriate skill training and workshop sessions, or simply moving them to a more suited role within your company.

How to build a successful virtual team

As the pandemic pushes businesses to run their usual operations online, it can be hard to make sure that your virtual teams are working efficiently and productively. Here are some tips to ensure your employees are communicating and working effectively despite being physically distanced.

Use multiple communication tools

The best way to make sure your team members are staying vocal and communicating with each other while physically apart is to use online communication tools. With the surge of digital communication technologies, remote team-building has become much easier as there are a multitude of social platforms to choose from.

Using business messaging platforms as well as programs for conference calls and screen records is helpful in establishing methods for how employees can share their ideas. Setting up different communication channels for separate teams and projects can also help in keeping your digital workplace organised yet communicative.

Include overlapping work hours

Although it may be tempting for employees working from home to work around their own personal schedule with flexible hours, it is important to schedule your employees with overlapping hours so that they can communicate effectively, similar to regular in-office operations. Having your employees work in-real-time together will help prevent miscommunication problems, quick task completion and bring them closer together.

Work with a schedule

Similar to overlapping working hours, the flexibility that comes with working from home may mean employees become unorganised and unaware of their team member’s roles and tasks. As a result, it is important to create a working schedule which all employees have access to and must follow. Constructing a routine for employees to work with, especially in the case of regularly scheduled meetings, reviews and catch-ups, will help employees remain productive and conscious of usual business operations despite being online.

The value of hiring older workers

Increasing life expectancy and late retirements mean that businesses need to be ready to welcome more mature-aged workers into their organisation. Workers aged 50 and over are often overlooked by hiring managers, but diversifying your workforce to include this age group could be greatly beneficial to your business.

Saving costs

Businesses are likely to see lower rates of sick leaves and higher loyalty rates amongst mature-aged workers. These low turnover rates can save your business costs relating to recruitment and training, and increase productivity within your workforce.

Customer representation

If your target audience includes an older age demographic, it may be more beneficial to have older employees working for you. By including mature-aged employees, you gain their perspectives of your product, and key insights into how to make your business more attractive to an older customer base.

Upskilling the team

Teams with diverse age groups perform better in the workplace. Older workers are equipped with a wealth of knowledge and skills that younger workers may not have. Less experienced members on your team are likely to learn new skills faster with older mentors on board. This can also help prevent the loss of key skills when older employees transition out of the workforce.
As a result of their experience, older employees are also more adaptable to change and high stress situations, and fill skill gaps in the workplace which leads to more well-rounded teams.

Work ethic

Older employees have a more stable work-life balance. Years of working has provided them with a strong work ethic, and an awareness of their strengths and weaknesses. Their work experience helps them perform better in diverse environments, and they have high conflict resolution skills. If your business involves meeting clients, older employees might be more successful by being confident and reassuring from a customer perspective.

How to recruit the right employee for your business

As unemployment rates rise and more individuals compete for the same job, businesses with open positions may find themselves flooded with job applications and potential candidates. With so many individuals applying for every open position, how can you find the right employee for you? Here are a few tips to help you with your recruitment selection process.

Keep your job advertisement detailed and concise

With so many job seekers in the market, it is important to filter out who you want to invest time into. To make sure you are only interviewing the best candidates and relevantly skilled individuals are applying for your job, ensure your advertisement lists all the essential requirements for the position.

For example, include your preferred education and qualification levels, required experience, knowledge and skills. It is also a good idea to prescreen potential candidates before inviting them for an interview to make sure you don’t waste time (both for you and the candidate) your selection process is uniform.

Prioritise compatibility

Not only will your new employee have to be compatible (in terms of work ethics and career goals) with you as an employer, they also need to be compatible with other employees in your business. It is always a good idea to check whether the candidate has the social skills to get along with others in their team as well as any potential clients they may be interacting with.

Involving current employees in the interviewing process may also help in testing for compatibility. While you can always offer to train employees in effective communication, with so many fish in the sea, consider whether or not social skills training is worth your time when there could be more socially adept candidates.

Test the waters

In addition to having a probation period for any new employees, don’t be afraid to offer a position through an internship first. Not only does an internship allow employers to assess whether or not a new employee is capable for the job, it also allows the employee to assess whether or not the position or the business is right for them. Under the correct legal terms, internships may also be unpaid. However, in the event that your open position is a mid-senior level position, internships will not be effective as candidates will feel their skills and experience are undermined.

How to interact with people at networking events

Approaching strangers at networking events can seem intimidating, but shying away from interaction means you could be missing out on some great business opportunities. Here are some ways you can comfortably approach people and make a good first impression.

Prepare

It’s essential that you know the nature of the networking event you plan on attending. Make sure that you know the meeting agenda, workshops available, dress code, revent schedule, and the host, companies and people that will be attending. If particular participants stand out to you, do some background research on them to get an idea of what they do and who they are so that you can narrow down who to talk to and what to talk about when you see them.

Be approachable

People are more likely to want to talk to you if you look approachable. Try to avoid standing in the corner avoiding eye contact with people, and instead placing yourself somewhere others can see you. Studies have shown that people are 86 percent more likely to talk to strangers on the street if they’re smiling, so don’t be afraid to keep a smile on your face, especially when someone looks your way.

Ask open-ended questions

Open ended questions are more likely to sustain a longer conversation and help you build rapport with someone more quickly. Close-ended questions that require one or two word answers may be useful for establishing basic facts about the other person (e.g. what do you do? Where did you study?), but mixing in open-ended questions that allow you to talk descriptively and passionately can prevent the conversation from getting stagnant or dull.

Be an active listener

With so many conversations, events, and people, networking events are often full of distractions. However, when you engage with someone, it’s important that you don’t let what’s going on around you distract you from listening. Try to remember their basic details, such as their name and company, so that you can recall them later if you see each other again and demonstrate your interest and polite character. Make appropriate eye contact with the person you’re talking to and ask them relevant questions about what they’re saying to show your engagement.

Exit gracefully

Ending a conversation can be awkward for both parties, and you may fear that you’re being rude if you initiate the goodbye. Remember that parting ways is a normal part of a conversation, and the other person may be just as keen to go and explore the rest of the event as you are. The easiest time to end an interaction is when there is a lull in the conversation. When this happens, politely let the other party know that it was a pleasure to meet them and thank them for their time. If you would like to connect later on, you could suggest a future meeting, exchange details, give them your business card, or send them a message on LinkedIn.

Building your interpersonal skills at work

Demonstrating strong interpersonal skills in the workplace can boost your performance and improve your experience at work by promoting positive workplace relationships. Interpersonal skills that will help employees thrive amongst each other can include communication skills, negotiation, problem solving, teamwork, decision making, empathy and assertiveness. Here are some ways you can develop your interpersonal skills for the workplace.

Refine your workplace etiquette

Demonstrating appropriate workplace behaviour can show your colleagues that you are a team player and that you care about them and the job. This can include being punctual to work and meetings, being courteous, showing respect, being cooperative, taking initiative, and dressing appropriately.

Strive for conflict resolution

Always talk to your fellow employees with respect, even when a disagreement is at hand. If your words or tone of voice are condescending, rude, or inconsiderate, it can damage workplace relationships and reflect badly upon you. When conflict arises, opt to talk things through by identifying the problem and working with others to come to an agreeable solution instead of acting irrationally or avoiding communication.

Be an active listener

Actively listening to someone doesn’t just mean sitting there and not interrupting them. To be an active listener, avoid only engaging with someone on a passive level. Instead, enter the conversation like you also have something to gain from it and you may find yourself not only learning more, but making others feel understood and heard. Be open minded and empathetic when listening to someone’s perspectives, and demonstrate your engagement with responsive body language.

Be receptive to feedback

Feedback can come in the form of someone telling you that you hurt their feelings, they didn’t like the way you behaved, or asking you to do something differently next time. Don’t brush these comments off, but take the time to think about where they might be coming from or ask them to elaborate. If their feedback makes sense, it gives you a great opportunity to work on a particular area after seeing where you went wrong. You can also ask for feedback on your interpersonal skills from coworkers and managers.

Remote teams versus virtual teams

As the majority of the workforce transitions to working from home and we rely on the digital world to connect with our colleagues – employers and employees alike – we should consider the future possibilities for recruitment and a digital workplace. A few terms like “remote team” and “virtual team” are constantly being thrown around but what exactly do they mean and how can you incorporate them into your own workplace?

What is a remote team?

A remote team is composed of workers who work together on one project while geographically distanced either one another or the rest of the business. This does not have to mean that remote teams and workers are working from home, rather includes people working from different cities and even countries.

A remote team of workers is beneficial for businesses which are looking to improve employee retention – as employees are more likely to stay at a business where they can conveniently get to work. Opening up your recruitment process to form a remote team also means you have a wider range of talent to choose from as you are no longer limited to your local area as you would with commuting employees.

However, remote teams may pose a problem if your business does not have the adequate technology, coordination system and monitoring facilities to reproduce or surpass the productivity levels that you otherwise would have with in-house employees. When looking to incorporate a remote team into your business, be mindful of how they will communicate with each other as well as your in-house employees, and fit into your established business process.

What is a virtual team?

A virtual team consists of team members who report to different team managers or team leaders, whether working remotely or not. The term “virtual” refers to a defined system rather than anything digitalised.

Instead of a hierarchy system, virtual teams are more collaborative and are led through influence rather than a traditional up-down system. Virtual teams foster an interdependent workplace culture, where a business decision does not depend on any one person but becomes more of a unified process. Businesses which have a number of different virtual teams with a group of co-located team leaders are more cooperative and united in nature, although some may struggle with the lack of authoritative work culture in “horizontal” cross-functioning teams.

Key difference

The key difference between remote teams and virtual teams is where their members work from. Remote workers are always working away from the main company body, whereas this is not necessarily the case for virtual workers. Despite working geographically apart, remote teams operate as employees would in a traditional workplace system, in that there is some form of hierarchy. Virtual teams however refer to the concept of being an effective team with a horizontal approach, where workers can work both in-house or remotely.

Communicating effectively with your remote team

Communication is a huge part of business productivity, however, businesses who have made a recent shift from face-to-face work to working remotely can find it difficult to adapt and maintain effective communication. But just because you no longer see your staff face-to-face doesn’t mean that your communication has to suffer.

Have a communication plan

Whether it’s having a set schedule for work calls and virtual meetings, or requiring employees to provide reports or updates at certain times, having a clear communication plan can help keep your staff on track with their work and with each other. It’s a good idea to keep a record of this in writing by using tools such as shared calendars or reminders.

Utilise messaging tools

Messages are a great way to communicate with your staff and keep a written account of tasks and ideas. If your business relies on teamwork, then having group messaging chats are essential to keeping everyone on the same page, otherwise, miscommunication and confusion are huge risks. This will also give employees the opportunity to chat amongst each other in a group setting as they would normally do in the workplace, and can help them retain a positive work attitude through providing a sense of collegiality and normalcy.

Provide performance feedback

With everyone working remotely, it can be hard to monitor the performance and quality of your employees. Providing performance feedback fortnightly or monthly can help your employees continue to learn and improve, as well as keeping them productive knowing that their work will be reviewed.

Recognition

Providing a positive and encouraging comment in the office seems very natural and easy to do, but when it comes to remote workers, it is easy for employers and managers to forget about taking the time to show recognition for the work employees are doing. Just like anyone else, remote employees should receive adequate praise and recognition for the high-quality work they do; without it they are likely to become disengaged.