TheMiddleShelf | Tips, Advice, Musings for Your Business, Career, Life

How niche search firms work and what candidates and employers should know about them

April 10th, 2013

Maria Helm

The most foolproof way to get on a niche recruiter’s radar screen is to demonstrate your skillful career navigation. To be noticed by recruiters, you must show that you have managed your career wisely—you must be able to clearly demonstrate a consistent path leading toward your professional goals. Show recruiters that you have taken charge of your career and that you have handled various job transitions seamlessly. This clear track record will reveal that you are a focused professional and will set you apart from many individuals who have allowed their careers to take charge of them.

For candidates looking to get out there on the market, here are tips to keep in mind when trying to get on the radar screen of a search firm:.

1.) Find the Firm for Your Industry. Find out which search consultants in these firms are focused on your industry and position and find out how to get on their radar. For example, if you’re a technical writer, register with a search firm specializing in technical communications and content strategy placements. Keep in mind, niche search consultants typically get hundreds of e-mails a day, so be sure to be quick and to the point in your communications.

3.) Establish Relationships. Cultivate relationships with these consultants and understand it takes time. Unlike recruiters or placement firms, niche search consultants don’t typically go out and solicit candidates for their database. They conduct very specific searches based on requests by their clients.

Placement specialists and the world-class companies they represent always look beyond the bare essentials of your CV. Show them your personal aspirations along with your professional ones. Often, an intangible asset in your professional arsenal can make all the difference in the world—and put you head and shoulders above your competition. Show how you have performed as part of a team; highlight what you’ve done for your community. Above all, present yourself as well-rounded and well-grounded.

At the end of the day, skill sets are a commodity. There are literally hundreds of candidates who match the skill requirements, so our focus is on specific competence, personality and fit with the culture of the company.

Photo Credit: Mike Porcenaluk via Compfight Dustin Diaz via Compfight

March 19th, 2013

Maria Helm

New Office Interiors! A good home office is a must-have for many of us. But taking a good home office and ramping it up to be a truly great one — whether that means one that increases productivity or simply is a more pleasant place to be — often can boil down to a few simple steps.

Here are five to consider. Try one or all to boost your home office into those heady heights of true greatness:

Keep the noise down. Noise can be Home Office Enemy No. 1. If you have the luxury of doing so, build sound-deadening features into the walls, floors and, if need be, the ceiling. If that’s too pricey or your office is already in place, consider plywood or Homasote panels. Wrapped in fabric and placed on walls, they deaden sound and provide necessary pin-up space to boot.

Add privacy and more privacy. If noise is your chief antagonist, then lack of privacy is a willing henchman. Don’t stop with a solid, lockable office door. Take privacy a step further with a “surround wall.” These are light, portable screens which can be positioned to provide visual screening and separation. They’re not only handy in large office spaces where too much to look at can be distracting, but essential in shared quarters, such as a family room.

See gray, act gray. Even the most independent-minded work-at-home types can suffer from conventional office-paint hangover. Workspaces aren’t just supposed to be a certain rudimentary, dull color. Colors can greatly influence our mood and, hence, our productivity and intrinsic satisfaction with what we do. So, if your taste in color runs to a flashy pink or sunburst orange, don’t be gun-shy about splashing some on your office walls. You may be surprised at how your mood and work take off.

Put your wastebasket on steroids. Most of us have little problem producing pyramid-sized heaps of trash. Trouble is, far too often we hope to squeeze those mountains into a thimble-like waste container. If your office functions best when things are reasonably tidy — and that’s the gig for most of us — spend a few extra bucks to “super-size” a wastebasket to adequately handle whatever junk happens to be around. If need be, opt for two containers to divvy up recyclables and pure throwaways.

Be careful not to “live” in your home office. One final element that can make a solid home office exceptional is as much mindset as anything else. On one hand, personalizing your workspace — be it with family photos, mementos and the like — is essential to making your office an appealing spot. But be cautious about carrying things too far. One land mine that can make even the best planned office stale is spending time there doing things other than what your business mandates. So, if you have a spare TV, make sure it goes somewhere other than your office. Likewise, read, exercise and do other non-business tasks in another area of your home. Not only will that get you out of your office more — yet another essential element to overall productivity — but it will make your time in your workspace that much more focused, fresh and, ultimately, better spent.

Photo Credit: Yug_and_her via Compfight

January 22nd, 2013

Maria Helm

Promoting the wrong employee is like being on a diet: It’s easy to do, a million times. Promoting the right person at the right time takes more work. But it can be as important to the well being of your company as ditching the pounds can be for your health.

Many businesses approach job promotions with something less than a studied eye. While the process may seem basic, the costs of an misguided promotion can be nothing short of catastrophic — particularly if it happens over and over. That means it’s important to know what works and what doesn’t in the art of promoting employees.

Here are four guidelines for promoting an employee:

1. Be aware that competence doesn’t necessarily mean a promotion. Not only do many employers cite the wrong reasons in promoting someone, they also associate solid job skills in one role with continued success in a different role. Granted, it’s great that someone’s proficient at their job, but that doesn’t mean that he’ll thrive in another position with bigger or different responsibilities. Instead, focus on those areas that the new position requires, be it people management, communication or other soft skills.

2. Let your employees know what you’re looking for. Associated to establishing bounds for promotion is making sure everyone in your company knows what’s on that list. Let your employees know. Then monitor how

December 19th, 2012

Maria Helm

There is a world of inexpensive, and often free, online services that can do wonders for your small business. Here are some examples of how these tools can help you.

Dot Tel

These .tel sites aren’t widely known but are super for small businesses. They allow users to store and organize all their current contact information online – including email address, website, Good maps and more. The bonus is that the more information you include about yourself, the more details search engines will pick up, driving traffic to you.

Unlike a traditional domain name, the purpose of a .tel site is to help manage and exchange contact information for individuals and businesses. When you give your .tel address to contacts, they simply add it to their smartphone or address book and all the information goes with it. If you add more information, it’s automatically updated. What’s more, once you give people your .tel address, you can stay connected for life.

For small businesses, a .tel site allows you to have an online presence without the cost and complexity of building your own website. It can also help you market your brand on the Internet and communicate to customers and potential clients without needing to make a big advertising spend.

November 15th, 2012

Maria Helm

How hard does someone have to work to become your customer? Here are examples that drive your customers away:

Website tussles

Requiring CAPTCHA security (when you type in and match the random letters presented in a box) in order for users to send an email or access portions of your site, especially if answering incorrectly requires users to reenter all of their order or registration information
Complex or confusing payment directions. You need to make it extremely easy for users to buy from you or to get further information. You do this by offering call-to-action buttons or links along with your content.
Cluttered Web pages that load too slowly. The average time a page takes to load is 3.5 seconds, but today websites need to load in just a secon or two for mobile devices.