Real Change

Face-to-face interviews are not really possible and recommended anymore, and everybody’s been replacing them with their video equivalent.
How a company adapts its interview process can be a preview to its culture: by accommodating different comfort levels, companies aren’t just saying they have a good culture; they’re showing it.

The onboarding process for newly hired candidates is becoming virtual, too. 

You need to offer plenty of resources and information, with scheduled conversations through video. You need to introduce a routine into their lives.

Employees' health and well-being should come first. There may be a perceived choice between productivity and well-being. But, engagement is a natural by-product of well-being.

People are worried about health, job security, their kids' education, life on the other side of the crisis. Micro-managing will not create focus. Tactics like time-tracking software will only compound the problem. Instead, focus on easing their fears. The more distractions we as leaders can clear away, the more effective our people will be.

• Part of the response is to hold performance and growth check-ins to acknowledge the contribution each employee is making and help them manage their longer-term professional goals.
• Err on the side of overcommunicating. Create a communication plan and be consistent. E.g., a daily email from the heads of each unit, or video messages from the CEO. Share even the bad news, to prevent employees from inventing their own stories to fill the void.
• Keep a tight feedback loop. Know how your employees are coping, how their work is affected, and how they think leadership can help.
• Be mindful of the resources you're consuming. Don't consume additional masks, disinfectants, and other supplies that hospitals need.

• With newer platforms, applicants have the option of using their LinkedIn profile instead of a CV. But they may still encounter customised questions that will require a significant investment of time.
• LinkedIn's Easy Apply button on job listings allows candidates to submit their profiles without additional materials.
• However, the majority of New York-based positions listed on LinkedIn rely on external ATS (Applicant tracking system) to manage applications.

What serves the employer well may not work for the prospective employee.

• According to a survey, 60% of candidates may give up on an application if it's too long or complicated.
• A cumbersome application process likely indicates the company's attitude towards its employees or overall culture.
• It is a dispiriting process as even seasoned applicants receive a response only 5% of the time.

Apps like OkCupid and Tinder see a decent surge in daily conversations in the last month. Ironically, the feature that they have recently introduced, Video Dating, wasn’t asked by anyone before the pandemic, as everyone preferred real dating. Now, due to everyone in lockdown, it is the most used feature and has shot up the app engagement.

Video dating, which has witnessed a 200 percent increase in OkCupid, lets the dating couples check the ‘vibe’ of their partner, and decide if the person can be dated in future.

Some of the interesting digital date ideas that are proposed in the dating Apps:

• Build a playlist together
• Watch TikTok Videos, trying to understand Millennials and Gen Z
• Draw pictures of each other
• Tackle a crossword puzzle together
• Watch an old concert on youtube together
• Read the same book and discuss it on video chat.

The conventional expert opinion is to provide a crisp, 30 second to 1-minute answer to the question "Tell me about yourself", but one minute isn’t enough time to deliver a meaningful response that benefits you as a candidate.

Experts prefer a short answer, as it has less chance of leading the candidate to drift or ramble.

• A longer answer to "Tell me about yourself" allows you to provide a useful narrative beyond the résumé.
• It lets you reveal key motivations that drove your career path.
• You can shape the interview in your direction.
• It's an opportunity to stand out from the other candidates.

Online mental health therapies may make people stick to it longer, but it’s long-term benefits are still questionable, according to a study.

This mandatory Quarantine mode, which can last for weeks or months, is making us more dependent on anything and everything online, with smartphones being the potential gateway to online mental health care.

"You have to make mistakes to find out who you aren't. You take the action, and the insight follows: You don't think your way into becoming yourself." -- Anne Lamott

We have to be courageous enough to let go of what no longer serves us in order to step into something new, and probably a lot bigger. 

Pessimism is defined as the anticipation of good or bad things to happen in the future, while optimism is generally considered the opposite. Optimism can be defined as the individual difference variable reflecting the extent of which we hold positive expectancies for the upcoming event.

The ways in which we think affects our health, well-being and success, even though the situations are the same.

• A positive impact on many aspects of physical and mental health.
• Provides motivation to work harder.
• Greater career success in life.

Your budgeting style will change over your lifetime. You may use the envelope method when you need to be stricter with yourself.

Some people feel less stressed when they use budgeting styles that track every penny. Others find it is enough to run cash flow and know there's some money left each month for nonessentials. They don't need to itemize where every dollar is spent. See what style of budgeting support your goals and sanity, then adjust as needed.

Much personal finance advice focuses on making cuts. The information is useful when you're trying to avoid mindless spending. However, there is a time to shift your focus from slashing to earning.

Polish your resume, and apply for open roles that could be earning more. If you're not looking for a career move, a side hustle can help increase your income.