Two minutes meditation session

(Copyright: Unsplash)

I read the inspiring book ‘The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything’ by Neil Pasricha.

I recommend it with all my heart for it teaches how to take control of one's happiness levels, my special favorite - the importance of disconnecting, and the two minutes meditation session.

Well, I’m a rookie when it comes to meditation, but I really wanted to try and see how it would feel for just two minutes (usually, I can't hold still and my mind wanders, hence my issues with being able to meditate). And so I did. For all of you out there, experiencing the same concentration issues when it comes to meditation, this is for you:

1. Prior to your mediation session, pick a dear memory (it can be from your childhood, a vacation, anything you like).
2. Lift your head from the computer, smartphone or any other device.
3. Get close to a window and focus your eyes on a distant thing (a building, a tree, etc.).
4. Now, picture that memory.
5. If you should have noise around you, don’t waste energy in trying to block it. Just accept it is there, and try to build on that. (After a while, no noise could bother you).
6. Try and remember the feelings you had while playing that specific memory in your head.
7. Don’t try to keep the time. Sometimes it may last less or sometimes more than two minutes. That’s OK, either way.
8. Come back to where you left things. You feel relaxed, don’t you?!

Now, if you are at a loss regarding what memory to pick, don’t be fussy. Try a few of them and see what works for you.

Maybe because it’s summer, for me is the white T-shirt memory. I was around 11 years old and I had just received a white T-shirt (so that you can grasp the importance of the white T-shirt, I almost never dressed in white as a child because I would always get my clothes dirty) with a girl with long brown hair and a big dog with strawberry-blonde hair.

I loved that T-shirt and wore it so much that it did not strike me as odd when I tried to think of a memory and this came up in my mind. So whenever I try this two minutes meditation session, I remember me wearing it, the smell of cherries, the hot sun, the pungent smell of dust just after the first drops of summer rain and … oh, right, absolutely no worries.

Have a good one, folks!

Humanized Employer Branding

(Photo credit: Nynne Schroder - Unsplash)

A week ago, I participated to my first Employer Branding Conference. It was interesting, especially since a few months ago I had no idea about the Employer Branding (EB) concept.

I listened to diverse opinions and watched presentations. I especially liked the speakers that insisted on the fact that the employees are a company’s best promoters, for they are the ones that spread the word about how well or not a company is structured, about the benefits, stability, growing perspectives and, yes, the level of salaries. This ‘yes’ is to underline the fact that, lately, some of us (candidates) feel like we must excuse ourselves for wanting a decent salary.

I am far from being mercantile… but since people do not expect those with a vast experience to stay in a job that does not offer growing perspectives, it’s exactly the same with those that are well-trained, but poorly paid, who will always try to find better paid jobs.

The discussion on salaries is complicated, and I am surely not the person to say more. Like always, I write only from my own or my friends’ experience. What strikes me the most is that the following should be understood by both parties (candidate and company) – a salary must support a decent livelihood (meaning that not the entire salary is spent on rent/ installments, and there would be enough money left for cultural activities, clothes/ shoes, that one per year holiday and, yes, medicine and medical treatments).

I loathe unfairness and using double standards, and I am also aware that bad seeds are everywhere – candidates and companies – but I reckon it is important to stop guiding ourselves by prejudice. Reasons vary according to circumstances, and when it comes to low salaries, both parties may come with explanations.

I have already told you about my experience as assistant. I was earning a salary so small that I had to take another job. But I was one of the lucky ones, I had graduated from a good faculty and I managed. If it hadn’t been so, I could not have afforded paying rent, maintenance, food, metro pass, medicine and to save some money for that one trip per year (yeah, I have always saved some money for trips). I will never forget the expression on my boss’ face when he asked me one night, when I was leaving the office, if I had another job and the reply was yes. It was then when it dawned on me that certain things cannot be explained, but one has to live them in order to understand. How can one understand hunger if one does not hear it growling inside one’s stomach?! How can one understand poverty if one does not share the same boots with one’s child?!

Coming back to the conference I was telling you about, I enjoyed the indications regarding the ways to find out people’s opinion on a company, ways one can transform an unknown brand into a trusted and adaptive to the changes around it one. Inevitable, one of the presentations got me thinking about reasons people leave a company. It reminded me of ‘people do not leave companies, they leave managers’. It was not me who said it. You can read all about it here.

No matter the number of meetings to stay connected and team events, employees should feel supported when they realize that their efforts lead to nothing at all. The idea stroke me while I was listening to one of the EB experts.

Here’s an idea! Maybe than seeing a benefits and ATL & BTL campaigns presentation, the potential candidates could find out more about how well is the company organized, how much support do the ideas receive and how many of the proposed ideas are actually put into practice (and thus become deliverables), how much flexibility, accountability and empowerment is permitted to an executor, how many validations an executor needs in order to progress with a project …

One of the speakers said something like this – we should treat candidates and relate to them as people, for they are people and respond to needs and wants. That’s a great idea for Employer Branding, I guess. Maybe we could build from there.

How to get published

(Photo credit: Laura Chouette - Unsplash)

A young lady wrote to me on Facebook and asked me what did I do in order to get published. She asked me to explain it to her by enumerating the steps. After replying to her, I said to myself that this is surely not the only person to have this demand so below you’ll read my answer.

 

 

Hi,

 

Thank you very much for writing to me!

Firstly, congratulations! It’s such a beautiful journey you’re embarking, being a writer that is, albeit sinuous.

I do not know if my journey could be of any service, but I will break it down in simple steps. I wrote what I really felt inside me I should write about. I must highlight this because you will find and hear a lot of indications saying that it is best to only write about what it is in fashion or about the subjects people usually read. To my mind, if you choose to do it this way you are not a writer, but a journalist (because aside from informing the people, they are constantly in search of subjects that could wow the people).

Step two – I wanted my books to be published. If you should want the same thing, then I advise you to start a research on publishing houses. You can easily find on internet a list od publishing houses in Romania (I guess it’s the same if you live in England or France, or any other country). Choose those more in sync with you (on account of what they have already published).

Step three – send them a summary of the work and a chapter or two, as sample.

Step four – send a follow-up email to ask if they had received your email and if they can offer you feedback.

Step five – keep writing.

Step six – send or resend your work and do not stop from writing.

 

I know there are people that have self-published their works, but I do not have details about this process. Advice – even though the publishing house promotes your work, do promote it yourself.

I hope this has been useful and would love to hear from you when you’re published. Good luck!

 

Cordially,

Emilia

Modeling

Everybody knows I am tall.

Back in the days when I was not that tall, my father took me to a studio to have my picture taken (actually, we went as a family to have our picture taken). It is all very blunt in my head, when I try to remember it. Somehow, over the years, I have asked myself if it wasn’t all just a dream.

The photographer’s studio seemed familiar and I remember I was sitting on a bench and I was probably told to smile. And to sit still. 

Even though… out of all the times I had my picture taken there were few people that asked me to stay still. The usual reproach is that I do not stand upright. My first photograph taken for my ID, back when the ID was a small notebook, was a black and white one. Moreover, it was a frustration fruit. Meaning that the photographer insisted on the fact that I was not keeping myself upright, but leaning to the right (do not read this as a declaration regarding my political views). And this is how my lips turned out askew (maybe this is how I thought I could control my sitting upright) like I had just eaten some lemon slices.

But coming back to the point, there are people that do not change over the years. It seems to me that I have not changed from this picture:

To this one:

About job ads

I am a voracious reader. And besides books, I also have read thousands and thousands of job ads. I say that gives me enough credit to put my opinion here, in the open.

 

I proud myself with being inspired with the outside world. You can read such an article here, but I must acknowledge job ads are my favorite.

The between the lines is always something that amuses and amazes me more and more.

 

Here are some of the highlights that I found while browsing through the latest job ads:

1. To be able to work under pressure

Isn’t that a given? I mean, we have been working under pressure for years now (even more so now with the COVID-19 pandemic). There isn’t a job out there that does not also imply some level of stress or pressure. Whether to calibrate your velocity to a faster way of doing things or to slow yourself down, count the sheep and hope that all goes well with your projects, we are all under pressure when trying to adjust to new roles. And how does one vouch for one’s experience of working under pressure? How do you go to interviews and explain your ability to do that? Here’s food for thought for recruiters that write such ads.

 

2. Flexibility

The candidate should show flexibility in managing work situations. I am sure you have all read this in an ad before. Again, how does one prove that? Whether I say it, believe it about myself or not, it will only be shown in the way I work (thus, it cannot be measurable and I cannot prove it beforehand to the recruiter). Wouldn’t it be better to just come out and say: your day-to-day working hours might change frequently or you will be receiving with delay the ‘go’ for your projects or we don’t usually have a plan that we stick to, we just do things as we go? That will be more honest and set the right expectations.

 

3. Original

There is a high demand for originality these days. I should say, if I have to quote my fellow writers, there isn’t a topic out there that has not been already addressed. There cannot be ‘an original content’ anymore, thus. But there are ways to innovate the old or the so much promoted. Don’t get me wrong, I do not have a problem against the word ‘original’, but to always consider originality regarding one’s content means that one’s expectations are not accurately set.    

 

My experience as a recruiter is slim. I participated, from time to time, to various job interviews as helper of the human resources specialist or the manager looking for a candidate. But I do have quite an experience as a candidate, and I am pretty sure that having the best interview experience goes two-ways. Considering both the interviewer and the interviewee’s point of view, that is. So here are my kind recommendations to those looking to implement changes in their current recruiting/ job interviewing style:

 

Before the face-to-face interview (the ad)

• Be concise and factual. Meaning just that, make a summary of the main responsibilities and requirements and let the candidate come back to you with questions. Less is really more in almost any situation, but precisely in this case. Giving more details than necessary will only mislead the candidate. Be factual – don’t enumerate pompous words, just make a summary presentation of the skills (measurable skills, not flexibility and originality) that you want to see in a candidate.
• Make your selection. I know that some of the resumes are not always up to date, but favor those that are (you can even include a note in the ad stating that candidates that do not have an updated resume will be disqualified) and make a fair selection of the candidates you will be calling for the interview. It will be highly appreciated and not time-consuming.

 

At the face-to-face interview

• Don’t, I repeat, don’t ask the candidate her/ his five-year plan! It’s so old news and not practical for your objective that I won’t dignify it with more words.
• Test. Well, most of you know about my aversion to this word. Nevertheless, I consider it a very good exercise to get to know your candidate’s sparkle. But please do not send them a test that takes more than half an hour to solve. More even, you can test her/ him while on interview. There are a lot of creative ways to do that and you could thus also test your candidate’s response to the unforeseen.
• Time. This is a sore point. Test and time are related here. Do test the candidate, but always consider the time. It’s precious, both for the company and the candidate. Also, be in time and have a lookout for those candidates that show up in time or earlier to an interview.

 

After the interview

• Even if you have made a promise or not (more so if you did), please send a response or feedback (it will be highly appreciated and the candidate will reconsider applying for the company for future open roles). I am fairly aware of the fact that time is a scarce resource, but even more so candidates should know that they have not passed the interview/ test and be able to move on. I know a recruiter sees sometimes even thousands of people for a role, but there are ways in which a candidate that was not suitable now, to be let down easy. You can make a template email and send it to let the candidate know they have not been selected to go forward. It shows respect to the time given by the candidate and also creates a trustful connection, making sure that the candidate will come back on your company’s job posting.