A critical component of building diverse and inclusive organizations is around recruiting and hiring, and it often presents one of the greatest challenges “How can we build a more diverse candidate pool?” “How can we diminish drop off through the hiring process?” and, ultimately, “How can we improve our retention statistics?” The implications are significant, not only relevant to fulfilling a corporate commitment, but fundamentally impacting employer brand. [stats re: job seekers valuing diversity & inclusion]. While the demographic starting point varies across function, nature of work, geography, etc. we have identified best practices that improve the outcome of recruiting efforts.
We met Mitch Roling through our extended recruiting engagement with eMarketer and saw the significant contributions Mitch made to that fast-scaling organization through his data fluency. Mitch gained skills and experience that he was ultimately able to build into his own consultancy, My Dataist (hyperlink). Today he’s advising a host of clients around their data needs— and, of course, he’s our trusted go-to for anything data-related. With the power of data and analytics top of mind, we thought it timely to have Mitch weigh in on the topic.
Early on in my career, as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (psychotherapy and career counseling), I discovered the magic of outdoor sessions. Inevitably, a single walking session would unlock a year of “a-ha” moments in a mere 50 minutes. Between the movement, the fresh air, and the escape from the intensity of constant eye contact, the outdoor stroll seemed to overcome so many of the artificial obstacles in the typical counseling setting.
As recruiters and career coaches, we’ve found that the most common reason individuals decide to leave an organization is lack of career growth potential. That’s particularly troubling in light of the fact that a significant percentage of these individuals were employees that the organization had hoped to retain– a loss magnified by the high cost of employee turnover. What contributes to this missed opportunity?
In 2023, our seemingly ever-changing economy has kicked off yet another year of career shifts, some self-catalyzed and some out of necessity. We are hearing from individuals at all levels of professional life questioning career direction--for some, looking to build future success and impact in a vastly changed economy, and, for others, fundamentally questioning the purpose of their daily professional lives and the mission of the companies they serve (or run). Every year offers the opportunity to pause and reflect, and this year, it seems, career planning is more essential than ever.
Career transition at any stage of one’s career can be challenging, fraught with concerns about making the right move (and implications of making the wrong move); the process can feel overwhelming, and there can be a frustrating lack of ROI on search efforts. Moreso, it’s often a solitary exercise, and can be hard to do on one’s own. There’s a resource you may not have considered. In this series, we’ll provide an overview about Career Coaching, How to Select a Career Coach and essential components of the career coaching process.
This week at CFW Careers, we lost a trailblazer, a mentor, and a devoted husband. David King started our firm in 1973 as a career school for women—a training ground that gave them the tools needed to get into business-to-business sales, make more money than women typically earned, and step into leadership roles that had been reserved for men in generations before.
Kim launched her career in advertising and grew to leadership in the adtech space. She’s led sales efforts in early stage startups, more established companies, and global organizations breaking into new markets. Kim is now the Global Head of Sales at K3, a retail tech software company. We asked Kim if she could share some of the key lessons she’s learned throughout her career, specifically for rising leaders and women in tech. As usual, she was insightful, passionate, and oh-so-wise in her answers.
Whether you’re staying put at your current job, beginning to consider what comes next, or actively on the hunt, an intentional approach to career planning can help set you up for growth and success. Read on for some tips and tools recommended by the CFW team!
A mentor of mine once told me that if you can’t clearly explain your job to your mom, then you're not communicating well. My mother’s confusion about my nearly two-decade long career got me thinking; why is the role of Customer Success still so hard for people to understand, and how do we make its very real value crystal clear?
We spoke to DE&I mavens, Dr. Kristen Liesch and Anna Dewar Gully, of Tidal Equality following the launch of their Equity Sequence™️. We were curious to hear more about the Equity Sequence™️ and get their take on additional ways to ensure corporate DE&I efforts are effective and impactful. They had a wealth of tips and information to share. check it out!
Even if you’re not yet sure whether this is the job for you, it’s worth the extra effort to personalize your thank your notes. If you wait for absolute certainty that this is your dream job before you start putting in the legwork, you will have long missed your train by the time this realization comes. Read on for 5 common mistakes to avoid when crafting that crucial follow up note
How would you sum up your professional experience and describe your ideal next opportunity? As recruiters, we pose that question to candidates all the time and often hear how challenging it can be to answer it effectively.
Our conversation with Rebecca touches on: data that bring together the different departments and the ‘why’ behind the numbers, the challenge of story-telling in the feature-led world of SaaS, and how to assess marketing leadership talent in the interview process.
We reached out to Eddie Baez to learn more about his founder’s journey, Career Pipe, and the work that lies ahead in building diverse teams and inclusive sales cultures. Check it the interview here!
This Women’s History Month, Cynnie King and Helena Chavez sat down to talk about Careers for Women, how the challenges CFW addresses around building gender equity in the workplace have evolved through the years, and most recently during the pandemic, and what we can all do about it. Check it out!
Surinder Singh’s most recent social venture, Turnout, is a platform that streamlines employee community event organization and helps Employee Resource Groups (ERG’s) measure their progress and impact on inclusion and belonging. We reached out to Surinder to learn more about what inspired him to start Turnout and how this platform helps to drive ERG engagement and effectiveness.
Career Pathing is the process of discovery that brings into focus ways you can play to, deploy and further develop your core defining professional attributes. Read on for some helpful tips to kick off that career exploration.
As 2021 kicks off, many of us are feeling a particularly strong need to both move ahead and move beyond 2020. One way that’s manifesting with individuals we work with is questioning career direction--for some, looking to build future success and impact in a vastly changed economy and, for others, fundamentally questioning the purpose of their daily professional lives and the mission of the companies they serve (or run). Every year offers the opportunity to pause and reflect, but we can’t help but feel like this year is a bit different, and career planning is more essential than ever.
Our closest relationships are often with those similar to us--and that extends to the workplace where one more readily relates to peers. Even mentoring is often approached as a one-way street, with a more senior exec passing down advice to a more junior up-and-comer. Enter Charlotte Japp, Founder of CIRKEL, an intergenerational platform bringing together people who want to learn, teach and grow from those both younger and older, valuing their different perspective, life and work experience. Seeing age diversity as an additional important aspect of DEI, we’ve followed Charlotte’s evolution of CIRKEL and we’re keenly interested in how she’s taking the concept to corporate clients looking to build out internal programs. We recently spoke with Charlotte about her founding CIRKEL and her growth initiatives in 2021.
Marie Kloor and a former Goldman Sachs colleague, Dan Nielsen co-founded Hydra Studios as a “home-away-from-home” where New Yorker’s can exercise, meditate or recharge their human batteries- amenities typically limited to employees of larger companies. Last month they announced their $3.8 million funding round, and are opening their flagship studio at 120 Wall Street this week. We spoke with Marie about her personal career story, learnings along the way, and advice she has for other founders hoping to follow in her footsteps.
If your ERG is looking for ideas for how to end 2020 safely, virtually, and in a tone that aligns with the confluence of challenges we have faced this year, below are five easy to implement, no-budget-needed, and highly actionable suggestions.
Career transition at any stage of one’s career can be challenging, fraught with concerns about making the right move (and implications of making the wrong move); the process can feel overwhelming, and there can be a frustrating lack of ROI on search efforts. Moreso, it’s often a solitary exercise, and can be hard to do on one’s own. There’s a resource you may not have considered. In this series, we’ll provide an overview about Career Coaching, How to Select a Career Coach and essential components of the career coaching process.
With the long-term goal of acquisition or IPO or just building a business, leaders can’t ignore the research that diverse teams make more money and deliver more profit. And, of course, building teams that reflect our communities and drive equity is simply the right thing to do.
When it comes to DEI, how do companies move from just “checking the boxes” to transforming culture, modifying behaviors and effecting sustainable change? Maria Simon, CFW Careers’ Vice President of DEI Practice and Talent Strategy recommends taking an outcomes-based approach, much like that typically seen in sales. We recently spoke with her about what this looks like and how companies can use it to achieve greater return on investment in DEI programs.
Six months into quarantine life, many of us are experiencing some side effects of our new work environments. The necessity to transition our lives to the digital realm has caused us to collectively experience a new phenomenon coined “Zoom fatigue,” where we end the workday feeling more exhausted and drained than usual. And while we’ve been video conferencing for years now, this specific fatigue has - not surprisingly - spiked since March. Below are some key reasons why we’re feeling more worn out at the end of our digital workdays, as well as our tips to combat the side effects of our constantly Zooming lives.
Almost three years ago, I was introduced to Chantel George by Myrna Datilus. As Myrna said to me, “She’s someone you should know…” That was an understatement. Following Chantel’s launch of Sistas in Sales, attending her first big event, and then witnessing how she grew the organization, was awe-inspiring. We’re fans and eager to promote and contribute to her cause, a cause aligned with our mission of building diverse and inclusive workplaces and helping individual careers flourish. We spoke with Chantel via Zoom, to learn more about the upcoming Sistas in Sales Virtual Summit 2020, September 18th-19th, and to learn how managers can best support their employees through this difficult time and beyond. -Cynnie King
One thing has remained constant: sales organizations change rapidly, and that change is accelerated by sales technology. In our most recent conversation with Jonathan Hume, a Business Development Advisor who has spent the last 15+ years in sales leadership, we discuss what it takes to set up the structure, launch, grow, and support a successful sales organization.
How do we help new employees hit the ground running in those critical first 30-60-90 days? Follow along for some key steps to making the remote onboarding of new employees as efficient, effective and enjoyable as possible.
While DEI leadership positions came on the scene a few years ago, within the context of this current social climate, the demand for CDOs and other DEI leaders is exploding. More than just having a CDO in place, though, it’s imperative that we are setting them up to succeed. We conferred with some good friends of our firm -- experts in the field -- and compiled a list of key ways to ensure you’re empowering your Chief Diversity Officers to bring about true organizational change.
A critical component of building diverse and inclusive organizations is around recruiting and hiring, and it often presents one of the greatest challenges “How can we build a more diverse candidate pool?” “How can we diminish drop off through the hiring process?” and, ultimately, “How can we improve our retention statistics?” The implications are significant, not only relevant to fulfilling a corporate commitment, but fundamentally impacting employer brand. [stats re: job seekers valuing diversity & inclusion]. While the demographic starting point varies across function, nature of work, geography, etc. we have identified best practices that improve the outcome of recruiting efforts.