A job search likely means you’ve spent a lot
of time preparing. You’ve rehearsed interview answers. You’ve revised and
polished your resume. You’ve notified all of your references and confirmed that
glowing reviews are forthcoming.
But no matter how prepared you think you may be, you’re not truly ready unless you’ve thought about the potential effects of a background check. Most employers today rely on background checks for information about candidates they can’t get from interviews or resumes. Some job seekers fail to consider what impact these investigations could have on their employment searches.
To avoid surprises, job candidates need to
know what these checks entail — or could reveal. For example, a critical step is
to scour your social media posts for anything that could be considered
unflattering or inflammatory. Companies almost certainly will take note if they
find something that potentially reflects poorly on them if they hire you.
If a hiring company solicits third-party
assistance, there is potential to gain information about your credentials,
medical records, driving records, criminal records and more.
For more tips on how to prepare for a
background check, see the accompanying guide. It details many crucial facts related
to what prospective employers can find when digging through your past. Author bio: Christian Moore is COO at Global Verification
Network. He has more than 20 years of investigative and
business experience with competencies including surveillance, competitive
intelligence, pre-employment and course-of-employment background
screening.
Just because you’re about to enter a saturated industry with
plenty of experienced competitors and established brands doesn’t mean that you
need to struggle to succeed. There’s plenty of room for everyone to grow at a
steady pace and even thrive, but only if you make all the right investments and decisions
on your way to success and affluence. To make these smart moves, you will need
to discover and implement the best practices in your field.
And the best way to do just that, and make your business look more professional and
appealing from the get-go, is to pick up the most important lessons from the
leaders in the industry. Let’s dive deep into the things that truly matter for
startups, and how to invest in these areas from the start.
Find, hire, and retain the top talent in the industry
You might be able to run a one-person show at the beginning,
but as soon as you start making progress and attracting more business to your
doorstep, you will need to allocate some of the workflow to an employee, or
several. What every accomplished business leader will tell you is that your
future depends on your ability to find and hire team members that bring true
value and quality to your business.
These will be the people who will drive your company forward
with their skills and expertise, the people who will guide the brand towards
its long-term goals. Needless to say, these people are your biggest assets, and
you cannot afford to lose them. You will need to create a winning company
culture if you are to boost employee retention and prosper.
Build a thriving company culture
The top brands in the industry are able to pay top dollar in
order to hire and retain their most valuable employees, but salary alone is not
enough to maintain a strong retention strategy. After all, there are a myriad
of job opportunities out there, and the millennial employee will have no problem
leaving a company if they feel underappreciated or if their true values and
talents are not being exploited to their full potential.
As a novice business leader, you might not even be able to
offer anything more than what’s considered standard compensation in your niche,
so your best bet is to build a company culture people won’t want to leave. Make
sure you build this culture on the pillars of equality, trust, transparency,
co-dependence, honest communication, and leadership in order to create a work
environment that nurtures and respects its employees. Make people feel
appreciated and never stop challenging them in healthy ways and provide
exciting projects to bring their true potential to light.
Use the web to expand globally
With the dawn of the digital age, global business has become
a reality for every company and entrepreneur with the dreams of expanding
beyond the local marketplace. It has never been this easy to trade on a global
scale and access faraway markets, especially with the rise of Ecommerce.
Nowadays, every business model can build an Ecommerce structure, B2C and B2B
brands alike.
For example, this new trend has allowed traditional big
businesses such as oil and gas companies to trade
in oilfield equipment and other products you wouldn’t normally see
in the Ecommerce realm, nor would you expect to be traded beyond the local
marketplace. What this means for you is that you have a unique opportunity to
capitalize on this trend by integrating an Ecommerce structure into your
operation from the start in order sell your products to a global customer base,
all the while making it infinitely easier to profit in the local market as
well. After all, customers in every industry are increasingly buying products
on the web, so make sure your brand is there too.
Listen carefully to customer feedback
The customer might not be right all the time, but that
doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do what they ask. Your customers will define the
future of your company, and any experienced entrepreneur will tell you that you
need to listen carefully to customer feedback on all digital channels, including social media, in order to assess the
true standing of your brand in the competitive field.
By tending to some careful media monitoring and analysis,
you can easily find out what the online and offline worlds are saying about
your brand. These kinds of insights will prove instrumental in shaping your
entire growth strategy, as they will allow you to adapt your approach and
deliver exactly what your customers need. You will also learn about the common
pain-points and discover your competitors’ weaknesses.
It’s all about the value of the brand
And finally, invest time and financial
resources to build a unique brand identity that will
resonate with the hearts and minds of your demographic. In a sea of competitors
and lookalike companies, you want to stand out as the brand people can connect
with on an emotional level, a brand they can trust and embrace as an
inextricable part of their everyday life. Your brand’s values and culture will
not only boost your acquisition strategy, but most importantly, it will help
you retain business and keep loyal customers at your side through thick and
thin.
In closing
Novice entrepreneurs have a long and winding road ahead of
them, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t follow the trails left by those
who have already reached the finish line. In other words, use these lessons to
even the odds against the leaders in the industry and future-proof your startup
for years to come.
Keith Coppersmith is a business and marketing
expert who has experienced both the rise and fall of many businesses. He enjoys
writing and providing insight based on both practice and theory.
The number of self-employed workers in the U.S. stands at 15 million but Freshbooks forecasts that an additional 27 million workers will go the self-employed route over the next two years. This is due to many people placing more value on maintaining flexibility and freedom. While being in control of your earnings can be rewarding, it is important to remember that high rewards comes with higher risk. Even as you try to safely transition your career into self-employment, the unexpected can happen and you will need an insurance policy that can protect your business, your health and your income.
Property Insurance
This type of insurance is essential especially if you have business property such as office equipment, inventory or other assets. For the cost of $500 to $1000 annually, this product can cover the cost of damage to your business due to a fire accident, vandalism, theft etc. You may also want to include business interruption as part of the policy in order to insure your earnings if the business is unable to operate. While insuring your business’s buildings is not mandatory, if you have a mortgage your provider may require a cover to be in place.
Short-Term Disability
A health insurance may cover your medical bills, but if you’re too sick or injured to work how will you generate enough income to sustain yourself ? Depending on your coverage, a disability policy will replace your income by paying about 60% of your usual income. The catch is that the payments can only last from nine weeks to a year and so it is important that you have an emergency fund in place.
Health and Relevant Life Insurance
In the regular work force, many employees find that medical insurance is included as part of their benefits package. However, as a self-employed person you will have to get your own coverage. Getting health insurance is not just important for you, but for your family as well. A policy will ensure protection for you and your family, covering everything from routine medical care to emergencies. On the other hand, life insurance can be similar to a typical employment-based life insurance policy in that your business pays the premiums instead of you. This policy is a tax-efficient way for your family to receive financial support in the form of a lump sum in case something happens to you.
General and Professional Liability
A product liability claim on average can cost about $35,000. This can cause huge losses to your business if you have no policy in place. Therefore, a general liability insurance is needed to protect your business from third party claims for property damages or bodily harm that may have been caused by your products or services. A professional liability (also known as errors and omissions insurance) is a must have if you offer advice or certain professional services. This type of policy will cover the cost of legal fees and compensation in case a client charges you with negligence, misconduct or mistakes made by you. In addition, if you want to land contracts with government agencies and enterprise clients, you’ll most likely need to present proof of liability insurance in order to bid.
Other types of Insurance that you may need
Based on your company’s specific needs, a business owner’s policy can reduce costs by packaging all the required coverage a business owner may need. If you handle sensitive client information, a data breach insurance can protect you in case of digital or physical theft.
If you are venturing into self-employment you will definitely need some type of insurance. It is also a good idea to review your coverage frequently in order to ensure that you have policies that meet your needs and can be sustained financially.
Marketing your small business is no easy task. Particularly, with all the channels and platforms available. To stay top of mind with your target audience requires strategy, planning and consistency.
One of the best ways to keep your brand relevant with your customers is through social media. Research shows that companies will spend over $17 billion on social media this year alone. For a small business owner, however, it can be difficult to make time for social media among all the other requirements of running a business. With limited funds or employees, marketing your small business can be difficult.
To build a successful small business social media presence, first evaluate your goals. Set goal metrics by determining what makes your business unique, looking at your competitors, and considering what’s important to your company. A social media strategy that is consistent and contains quality content will help to engage your audience and attract new followers. To stay consistent, build a content calendar that helps you stay organized.
To help you get started, Valpak put together a guide to social media for small businesses. It covers everything from setting social media goals and metrics to crafting an omnichannel experience. Whether you’re looking to improve your small business social presence or you’re just starting out with a new business, walk through this step-by-step guide for helpful how-to’s and tips.
There has been, in recent years, a huge surge in the amount of businesses of all shapes and sizes embracing remote working for their employees. From a business perspective, it’s easy to see why. Remote working affords businesses an opportunity to significantly reduce their overhead costs. When employees aren’t in the building they’re not using energy or water or paper. They’re not making coffee or flushing toilet. What’s more, they’re not driving into work every day and so they’re helping their employers to reduce their carbon footprint and increase their green credentials.
Yet, the reasons for the widespread growth of remote working aren’t all down to benefits for employers.
The factors behind the growth
There’s obviously a technological component at play when it comes to the rise of remote working. In recent years, managed IT services have enabled even modestly sized business affordable access to robust and reliable cloud based solutions- read more about this here. This has made it easier for remote workers to do anything they could to from their desktop at work from their home PC or in some cases even through mobile devices.
Yet, perhaps one of the lesser known factors is the way in which remote working is so closely aligned with the millennial generation’s ideals for workplace success. For clarification, by millennials we mean those born between 1977 and 1997. As you can see from this infographic we posted recently, there’s some pretty neat correlation between the two…
Advocates for work life balance
Many millennials were raised by baby boomer parents who worked long hours for their money and it likely did little to convince their young minds that good money trumps time spent with friends and family. Thus, millennial workers are every bit as diligent as their baby boomer parents but focus on working smart over working hard and strive for work / life balance.
Remote work allows employees to be more productive while enjoying greater autonomy over how they use their time. Moreover, they save a great deal of time every day by not commuting to work.
Digital pioneers
‘80s and ‘90s kids grew up in an era of colossal digital and technological expansion. While Generation Z are digital natives who have never known adult life without digital technology, millennials are still excited by it and don’t take it for granted. Thus, they’re more likely to be enthused by the cloud based technologies that allow them to be at work… At home.
Team oriented and collaborative
Millennials are inveterate team workers and embrace opportunities to combine this with their enthusiasm for digital technologies. New digital applications can facilitate innovative collaborations through digital communications technologies. Millennials enjoy using the tools that enable them to collaborate with others even while working remotely such as Slack, Asana, Zoom etc.
As you can see, there are many reasons why millennials love remote working and why it loves them. While it will likely never take the place of the traditional office it nonetheless makes for happier and more productive employees as well as reduced overheads for their employers… So everybody wins!
