The Importance of Setting KPIs and How To Do It Effectively

Research has shown that 60% of fortune 500 organisations and therefore the most successful companies use KPIs in some form or other – which should underline the relevance of KPIs to delivering high performance within a business. But, why are they so crucial and how do they help businesses to drive performance and succeed? The answer to this is that in a complex, rapidly changing and competitive commercial environment, a well designed set of KPIs act like a digital dashboard, providing the senior managers with the tools and insight to monitor performance against their goals and make adjustments which will lead to performance improvements. Arguably managers that operate without a digital dashboard of KPIs are effectively ‘driving blind’.

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What to Look Out For In a Contract of Employment

Research shows that many workers have not properly read their employment contract, even though it governs their working conditions. This guide tells you why you should read it and what you should look for.

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How to Manage Your 3 Month Performance Review

It is very common practice amongst Australian employers (and most employers world-wide), to employ staff on an initial 3 month probationary period. In some countries, the probationary period can be up to six months, but this would not be a prudent action for employers to take in Australia as employees become entitled to claim for unfair dismissal after a 6 month qualifying period. This is why most Australian probationary periods will be 3 months long.

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How To Make a Good Impression When You Start a New Role

An extensive research study (3000 respondents) from the Australian Institute of Management revealed that the generation X and Y workforce is becoming increasingly mobile with nearly a quarter of this sample expecting to change  jobs in the next 12 months. Another study from the US Bureau of Labour statistics suggests that employees may change careers up to 7 times in a life time.

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How To Ask a Manager For Assistance

In large established companies you are likely to find that there is a more formalised support structure in place to help you do your job and operate effectively within the business. From the first day, there are likely to be well established channels of upward communication through which you can pose questions and these channels will most likely to be explained to you on your first day. In a large company, you may be informed of the H&S contact, HR contact, facilities manager, line manager, department head etc…

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How to Leave your Current Job

This may seem like a strange topic for an article, as on the face of it, leaving a job appears a very straightforward task – you simply prepare a resignation letter and hand it in to your boss and ‘Hey presto’ you can leave your job. But, it is more complicated than that; the way that you leave your current job can determine how ‘easy’ or ‘hard’  it is to get your next job and can therefore have a long lasting impact on your career.

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What Kind of Test Might You Face at Interview?

Research from Leeds Metropolitan University in the UK shows that 70% of multinationals and an increasing number of SMEs use psychometric tests during the recruitment process. This means that as a job applicant, it is very likely that you may face a psychometric test during the recruitment process for your next job. This should not concern you greatly, because this may simply be what it takes to get the best job; therefore, your focus should be on properly preparing yourself for these tests so you can maximise your chance of success. It is important to prepare because research shows that practicing tests under simulated test conditions will mean that you perform better during the ‘real thing’. But, what tests should you practice for? While most employers will tell you that there will be a psychometric, many of them will not tell you what the test will be. So, in this article, we thought we would supply you with a little insight into the kind of tests you might face at interview.

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The Secret to a Great Cover Letter

True, not all recruiters read covering letters, but most recruiters will notice if there isn’t one there – the absence of a covering letter could be perceived as a lack of effort or real interest in their company. By the same taken a poorly written, generic cover letter will also not impress the recruiter as the recruiter may think that you are adopting a scatter-gun approach to your job applications.

Irrespective of whether it is asked for, the most effective applications should contain an effectively written cover letter in accompaniment to your CV. In this article, we outline several tips which can help you to produce an effect and powerful cover letter.

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How to Create a Winning CV

A recent study by Australia At Work reveals that the average job tenure of Australian employees is seven years, which is by far the lowest in developed economies, for example, the European average is approximately 11 years. This means that the typical Australian employee with a working life of 50 years, could expect to change jobs 7 times in their career.  Since it is your CV which will get you the interview for each of the new jobs, your CV will be a crucial factor in your career progression. This is why you must become an expert in art of CV creation – and to that end, here are 5 tactics that you can use to help you write a great CV.

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How To Negotiate a Higher Starting Salary

There are two important steps to negotiating a higher salary; the first is trying to place yourself in as strong a bargaining position as possible and the second is how you actually conduct the negotiation.

So what is the significance of a bargaining position?

Take the example of sports stars who, with the help of their agents, regularly manage to secure lucrative contracts with new teams. They manage to achieve these lucrative contracts because the sports star has a strong bargaining position, which means they can show the following:

  1. that they are great at what they do;
  2. that they are in form;
  3. that they will make a difference to the team they join;
  4. and finally, that they have other options.

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