Promote From Within or Hire From Without 6 Factors to Consider that Will Shape Your Culture

Promote From Within or Hire From Without 6 Factors to Consider that Will Shape Your CulturePromote From Within or Hire From Without 6 Factors to Consider that Will Shape Your CultureIts the perpetual question, the albatross for HR professionals and the never-ending debate among hiring managers and those in the employment decision-making process. Do you encourage growth and maintain corporate culture and morale by hiring from within or build new ideas and stimulate outside thought processes by searching outside of your organization? This long-winded, if classic, question is one of the many considerations that keep those looking to bring on new talent up at night. If youre in the process of filling open positions, the decision probably has a greater impact on your day to day job duties, making the ultimate outcome even more stressful. Sure, loyalty in your employee culture is amazing, but what about the prospect of stale ideas? And yes, innovation and growth are amazing plus-one factor s, but can they compete with an in-depth understanding of a companys business model or client-base?While playing devils advocate or gnashing your knuckles over the right decision in the hiring process may seem an attractive distraction, at Simply Hired weve got plenty of real-world advice and analysis when it comes to whether to promote from within or hire from without. Read on to delve into our six top factors that will help shape both your decision-making process and hiring culture for years to come.1. Company KnowledgeOften referred to alternatively as corporate culture, intimate knowledge of how your company does business and who the clients and contacts are is invaluable when it comes to employee contributions. Internal candidates are obviously going to have the leg up on external contacts in this category. That being said, dont throw the baby out with the bathwater by dismissing someone who doesnt have the inside track on the way your company does business.Idiosyncrasies and t he details of the ways accounts prefer to operate is a huge plus factor when shuffling vacant job listings. If you have a solid employee pool on the ground, however, this is often information that can easily be taught. Consider whether your interviewee can pick up on the expertise of his peers and superiors quickly in order to get up to speed. If so, a newbie may have the character traits that can level the playing field on the experience front.2. Domain-Specific ExperienceWhen you hear the word domain you may have a web-ified view of some kind of url hashtag designed to trip up even the least tongue-tied and internet savvy tech users. When it comes to finding employable candidates, however, the term has entirely other connotations. Instead of considering whether a candidate is originating internally versus externally, instead try to quantify their experience and exposure to the given industry, or domain. unterstellung characteristics can often help level the playing field between d isparate job titles and even across industries all of which are a huge help when it comes time to choose the exact right candidate for that single available job position.3. Abilities and InterestsJust as looking at an individual candidates experience in a certain domain, its also important to evaluate their overall abilities and professional interests when deciding whether to bring them up internally or introduce a new outside employee to the pool. One of the biggest factors that employers look to when deciding to hire outside an organization is the perception that there is no one at the company currently who has the correct job title or background. Before jumping to that conclusion, hiring managers would be well served by taking a fresh look at your current human assets.Perhaps that candidate is currently working in HR but has expressed a strong desire to make the switch to business management. Maybe another employee started in a low-level job position but has constantly excelled o r has undertaken self-study in order to develop a stronger skill set. It can often be difficult to identify these hidden skills and abilities right off the bat. Its important, therefore, to take regular inventory of your employees abilities, preferably via the annual review and evaluation cycle. Detailed notes or even a self-evaluation asking the candidate to identify where theyd like to go or what they may be interested in can be useful for helping match the right job with the right internal candidate as new positions become available.4. Personality TraitsAs many employers have learned at least once the hard way, personality is often the make or break characteristic when it comes to an individual employees long term success. The brightest and fruchtwein talented worker can often be tripped up by a poor attitude or an inability to stay on task. Likewise, sometimes it makes sense to keep on a less capable employee due to the contributions they make to team or company morale.Take stoc k of personality factors when deciding whether to promote from within or hire from the outside. Does the dynamic of your current workgroup support the introduction of a new person or are there personality clashes within the team? Depending on your particular circumstances, it may make sense to maintain the current personality mix or add in or swap members in order to correct issues.5. SalarySure, wed all like to live in a world where money wasnt a factor. The truth of the matter, though, is that individual employee compensation is a large part of a business bottom line. If you have an existing employee that may be a good fit for the position, consider whether their current salary leaves room for promotion. External candidates will often have considerations and expenses when moving jobs. Because of this the average salary for an external hire can often by 18-20% higher than doing an internal shuffle. Finally, internal candidates can often be offered soft benefits such as additional t ime off, flexible working schedules, or additional responsibilities in lieu of a bigger salary bump.6. Onboarding TimeThe final factor to consider when deciding whether an internal or external hire is right for you is the complexity of the position and the amount of time and resources required for training. For internal hires that are already familiar with the corporate culture, there will be fewer resources needed to onboard and get them up and running in the position. From the basic first day and week policies and procedures training to learning about the corporate culture, employees promoted from within will often be ready to hit the ground running on day one. There will be little to none of the standard acclimations and as an employer, youll already have a good grasp on how the employee works and what encourages them to put in the extra effort.Hopefully, our list of six factors has provided useful information to help ease some of the burdens of your next major hiring decision. T hink we missed something major? Drop us a line and share with other Simply Hired readers your thoughts on the hire from within or without debate.

How to Turn a Summer Internship Into a Fall Job

How to Turn a Summer Internship Into a Fall JobHow to Turn a Summer Internship Into a Fall JobOutside of a full-time offer at the best firm in the perfect location, getting the internship is the post-college dream, offering a gunst der stunde to settle in for a summer internship, love your coworkers and score a full-time offer before the fall. Boom your time was an investment in a real job opportunity. Unfortunately, the fine print is true. Theres no guarantee your internship will turn into a full-time job when the internship is over. However, if you go into your internship with the right mindset you can position yourself to be the best pick if an opening does come up. If I were starting an internship today, heres what Id do to give myself the best chance of turning it into a full-time job Identify and collect metricsThis career advice comes from my father who had a military and civilian employee experience spanning 40 successful years. Whatever youre doing, he said to his daughter w ith a new English degree, Find something you can track and track it. At the end of a given period of time, youll have metrics that prove you were there.This advice can be difficult for careers we consider softer, like writing, management, and customer service. However, no matter what you do you can find something you can track. For example, as a writer or editor you can use your writing software to track how many edits you receive for a given assignment then work hard to have that number go down over your time on the job. As a project manager or account manager you could track customer complaints or feedback each week and take action to have those numbers reduced. Whatever metric you choose to track will help you show you had an impact in your workplace and improved individually over time. Validate the ongoing need for your positionCompanies dont just hire for a new position because youre nice and they want to keep you. There needs to be a quantifiable reason to have your position. In reality, validating the need for that position is rarely something youll have input in. However, you can use the metrics you collected in your review session to show your manager the value of the work youve been doing. And even if you dont save your internship job, you may show that you would do great in another position.Make friends a first priorityYou took the internship for the opportunity to build your skills and get a great bullet point on your resume. But who you meet in your internship can have a powerful impact on your career. Before you head into your internship, expand your expectations to focus on making friends and building your network. Be on the lookout for a potential mentor or coworkers who will be able to connect you with other companies hiring in your field. Networking in an internship doesnt require access to the C-Suite. Even if you dont think you can use someones connection, be friendly. Find common interests, kooperation others and practice your conversation al skills. Show youre a good culture fit and that people like you and youll be a much more enticing choice if a position does open up. Getting a full-time offer after an internship is almost never a guarantee. But you can improve your chances of being considered for a job by crafting an experience that makes you a shoe-in for a full-time opportunity elsewhere. Use these tips to give yourself the best chance of turning your summer internship into a fall job.

Customize this Outstanding Writing the Medical Receptionist Resume Template

Customize this Outstanding Writing the Medical Receptionist Resume TemplateCustomize this Outstanding Writing the Medical Receptionist Resume TemplateWriting the Medical Receptionist Resume TemplateCreate Resume A receptionist within a medical setting must not only know how to handle incoming phone calls and emailles, but must also handle a hectic pace of patients needing directions and information under stressful circumstances. A qualified applicant for this type of role is an organized, efficient and compassionate one. This Medical Receptionist resume template reflects those key attributes and provides an easy-to-read format sure to motivate hiring managers to interview.Resume Template for Medical ReceptionistMacKenzie PetersProfessional SummaryEfficient Medical Receptionist with talent in patient communications, provision of directions, heavy phone handling and professionalism under pressure. Provider of compassionate assistance for hospital patients, visitors, staff and supplier s. Strong communicator with efficiency in call routing, email correspondence and other information provision.Core QualificationsMulti-Line Phone SystemsMcKesson EMRMicrosoft Office70 WPM TypingCommunication SkillsPolished AppearanceBilingual in SpanishExperienceMedical Receptionist, August 2009 PresentUniversity Health System New Cityland, CAProvide front desk reception for primary entry into a bustling 640 bed hospital system.Answer multi-line phone system, routing calls, answer simple inquiries, providing contact and mailing information and other assistance.Read and route general incoming emails from the hospital website.Provide general clerical assistance as a secondary responsibility between patient, visitor, staff and supplier communications.Handle up to 175 calls per shift.Data Entry Clerk, April 2005 August 2009Accounting Investigators New Cityland, CAProvided general data entry for a tax accounting firm of 12 executive accountants and several consultants.Developed spread sheets as needed for forensic accounting cases.Provided quality assurance and proofreading on all entered data to ensure accuracy for court proceedings and trials.Education2005 Bachelors of Science, Business AdministrationUniversity of California New Cityland, CACustomize Resume

3 Resume Fails That Dump You Into The Black Hole

3 Resume Fails That Dump You Into The Black Hole3 Resume Fails That Dump You Into The Black HoleINBOX I have literally applied for 650 jobs by this point, and Im just not clear on what Im missing, but I know that its not leading me to getting very many calls back.That 650 number doesnt make anybody happy. When youre seeing jobs, reading the descriptions, and knowing full well you can do the jobs with yur eyes closed, then whats the problem? Lets go over 3 key points that can cause you to get sucked into the ATS machine and spit out into the black hole of the Internet, never to be seen again.Resume Fail 1 Youre Not A MatchIn your mind when you read the job, you think to yourself of course you can do it. You dust off a resume and hit send. But wait. Theres a difference between what you know you can do and what the piece of paper actually says you have done successfully.For example, an ad for a Sales Representative may require the applicant to present the following points? An in-depth t echnical knowledge of contact center functionality including ACD/CTI/IVR/Omnichannel/Reporting. ? Selling the value of moving from a Capex to an Opex model. This includes a general understanding of ROIs as it relates to Opex consumption. ? An ability to present to both technical and business audiences, including executives up to the C-Suite level ? A professional demeanor and experience talking to Fortune 1000-type customers ? Collaboration and team-oriented skills are a must, including cross-organization. Whats important here is to not only match the language of the ad, but to match the right language. If your background is in technology sales, but not necessarily contact center solutions, you could tell yourself, Well, I could easily do that. However, the employer is looking for some indication that youve actually done that we know this is supremely important to the employer because its the very first qualification on the list.Too often candidates fail to make sure they match by reflecting less-important language from the ad on the resume. Its easy enough to say you have, a professional demeanor and experience talking to Fortune 1000-type customers. However, dropping in those keyword phrases can have you come up short.Resume Fail 2 You Have No BrandYour resume needs to be more than the sum of your different professional experiences. If all you do is list one job after the next from 10, 20, or 30 years, that amounts to a boring history lesson. Instead of stringing all that together, think about your brand.A good question to ask yourself is, What can I come into the organization and do that will make a difference for them? Derive the answer from your professional history, and dovetail that with the primary functions the employer is outlining in the ad.Using our same example, your resume could begin with the following brand Top-ranked sales specialist who drives multi-millions annually in new revenue for contact center, ACD, CTI, and IVR solutions. A powerf ul opening statement like that sets the scene for the full story you have coming up throughout the resume.Resume Fail 3 Your Story Is TwistedTwists and turns are the enemies on your resume. The goal is to craft a marketing piece. What marketing does is showcase something in the best light, highlighting all the advantages, so the intended audience will buy in.Your resume as marketing piece needs to present a smooth, straight story, not one marred by twists, turns, gaps, and unnecessary explanations. Dispense with the reasons why you left every employer. Company closed, laid off, sought better opportunity, are speed bumps written into a failing resume that slow down, distract, and annoy. Make no apologies for why each job came to an end everyone has had several jobs that have come to an end for one reason or another thats simply a function of advancing through your career.Check these points on your resume and make the necessary upgrades. Then, by all means, do not blast things out to the next 650 opportunities. Test the market. But strike a balance between making improvements and getting stymied in analysis paralysis. Submit the new version of the resume for the next 20 opportunities. At that point, re-evaluate your results. If you need further recalibration, do so. Discard what doesnt seem to be working, and build on top of the solid blocks.You can get multiple offers in a reasonable amount of time, without applying for hundreds of roles all over the Internet. Once the resume is where it needs to be, they make sure to connect with a relevant human being every time. I walk you through exactly how to do that in our free job search training, How to Land Your Ideal Job in 8 Weeks or Less Youll find out precisely what to say, what not to say, and how to psychologically trigger a response from the recruiter or decision maker. Join us for the free presentation today.

12 things you can do to feel a little less lonely

12 things you can do to feel a little less lonely12 things you can do to feel a little less lonelyWhether youre going through a break-up, you just moved to a new city, or youre just simply in a funk, its normal to feel lonely every once in a while. And while social media may seem like it can boost your spirits, the negativity that sometimes accompanies apps like Twitter and Instagram can force you into comparing yourself to others. Thats never a healthy practice, especially when youre feeling down.Weve outlined a few suggestions for the times when you feel like life just isnt going your way, so you dont feel the need to hop on Facebook.1. Surround yourself with familiar thingsBlankets from home, old movies that remind you of your friends from high school, photographs from college, a candle that smells like your parents home. Use familiar objects to remind yourself of all the wonderful people in your life who care about you.2. Take an exercise classExercise classes help you get out of your comfort zone and meet new people. Introduce yourself (if youre feeling up for it), and if not, youre still surrounded by new faces and getting some kind of social interaction. Plus youre getting those endorphins flowing, which is always a positive thing.3. Join a clubIf youre sporty, join a summer softball league. If that suggestion is anything but desirable, try a book club, a gardening club, a Star Wars club (no judgment). Make one of your interests into a social hobby4. Seek out popular podcasts, newsletters, or books to take your mind off thingsListen to motivational podcasts, sign up for wellness newsletters, or read books that you can completely engulf yourself in.5. Leave the apartmentGet out of your place and do something you would normally stay-in and do. Go to the movie theater instead of watching Netflix in your bed. Read your book on a bench at a dog park. Power-walk around the lager instead of inside your apartments gym. Find some way to leave.6. Update your routi neGo to a different coffee shop. Explore a new park. Get dinner from a restaurant youve never been to before. Expose yourself to new environments, see new things, and meet new people.7. Take a classChannel your inner Chrissy Teigen and sign up for a cooking class. If youre more of a bookworm, take a literature course. And if youre more on the adventurous side, take a foreign language class.8. Plan a fun trip or adventure with old friendsGive yourself something to look forward to with familiar faces. Exposing yourself to new people and new environments can be scary and intimidating Make time for old friends to relieve this somewhat overwhelming feeling.9. Practice journalingWriting out your feelings can release the tension and stress youre experiencing. It can also help you better understand and come to terms with your emotions.10. Treat yourselfThis is exactly how it sounds. That facial youve been wanting? Get it. That massage your lower back has been begging for? Make the appointme nt. That overdue haircut youre reminded of daily by your split ends? Schedule it.11. Practice mindfulnessMindfulness practices like guided meditation or yoga can be beneficial to both your body and your mind. Attend a local class or practice in your own home with a YouTube tutorial12. Tell someone how you are feelingMake sure its someone you trust. Whether thats your mom, your best friend from college, or your therapist, talk out your emotions. Reach out to your best confidante and tell them youre going through a bit of a rough patch. Dont be afraid to let yourself be vulnerable just saying how you feel out loud sometimes can help.A version of this post previously appeared onFairygodboss, the largest career community that helps women get the inside tolles ding on pay, corporate culture, benefits, and work flexibility. Founded in 2015, Fairygodboss offers company ratings, job listings, discussion boards, and career advice.

New Questions About Resume Creator Online Answered and Why You Must Read Every Word of This Report

New Questions About Resume Creator Online Answered and Why You Must Read Every Word of This Report The Awful Side of Resume Creator Online Making a video resume (assuming that its a fantastic high quality video) can only help increase your opportunity of landing the position. Your cover letter is a significant portion of your job application. Before you create a video resume, take some opportunity to consider through the very best location to achieve that. Its essential for you to realize that at the close of the day, its your resume. There are a lot of professional resume template that can be found on the world wide web from which you are able to make out some idea about how to construct a professional curriculum vitae using best resume builder websites. As soon as your profile is completed, you are going to have access to the Resume Builder. In addition, in our free resume builder, you will come across absolutely free content templates for a number of profiles. Resume Cr eator the new method to compose your resumes. Resume Creator Online Explained Wiki states A chronological resume format is most commonly employed by experienced people with over 4 decades of experience in related job field. Based on your industry and the sort of job youre interested, an online resume can be a fantastic way to highlight your abilities and experience in a fashion that is more visually appealing and engaging than a traditional resume. Bear in mind, its a good idea to develop into a booming intern and create a massive influence at the exact saatkorn business, than it is to wind up haphazardly juggling numerous internships at the same time. Regardless of what genre you would like Business Studies, Microeconomics, Business Management and Financial Accounting, were here to serve your needs. Research skills are a few of the the most critical knowledge to possess. When colleges begin to job interview they will need to lessen the invited visitors to a fair number. If you dont paste your resume, you will need to upload it. It couldnt be less painful to compose resumes. And its true that can make some rather intriguing resumes on it. From that point, you get started wondering if theres an online resume builder which could deliver what youre looking for. As an issue of fact, on an average, the majority of the recruiters do not start looking for over 6 seconds at a resume. The majority of us already know that the resume we submit while putting in an application for a work interview is truly crucial for a lot of reasons. With some research its possible to learn to appropriately utilize them. Resume Creator Online No Longer a Mystery ur resume builder is not going to bother you with any type of annoying watermarks. The website supplies a selection of premium resume templates and designs that you are able to download to MS Word. You also receive the choice to settle on a template from the bunch of beautiful resume templets out there. Elegan t and contemporary template to stick out from the crowd. So should you need to employ college essay writer online, were just the people that you want to contact. Writing is a present that comes naturally. So when you have an essay assigned that you will need help with, you can purchase essay online cheap from us. Its possible to easily buy unique college essays and dont neglect to tell friends and family about it. Resume Creator Online Can Be Fun for Everyone The process of producing a resume is quite easy and straight-forward. Its possible to easily preview your resume as the creation procedure unfolds. You do not have to get registered to use the creator. The resume creator will ask you to put in your information into the blanks offering a detailed strategy to writing. Your CV is going to be saved safely on the website and generating it is completely free of charge. The website also supply you to search vacancies that fulfills your skills. Another website for making your CV is the cvmaker. This site for making your CV might be your cvmaker.

March Madness How to Keep Your Corporate Culture Productive

March Madness How to Keep Your Corporate Culture ProductiveThe craziest part of March Madness might be how many productivity hours and how much money your company could lose. Youve worked hard to establish an attractive corporate culture, so youre not crazy about the idea of cracking down on Internet usage just in March. You trust your employees, and that trust is part of what makes your corporate culture so great.However, ignoring the NCAA Division I championship tournament, with all its betting and brackets? That might just be madness.How Does March Madness Impact Productivity?Why is March Madness such a productivity drain? Its hard to say for sure, but many of your workers will likely go in for a few friendly wagers in the month of March. In fact, according to this infographic about the madness that takes hold in March, 58 percent of workers (mora than half of your staff) plan to place their bets on the NCAA tournament.Since workers are closely following all the action, youll like ly see employees working hard on their brackets instead of the big project you just gave them. In fact, 86 percent of workers will spend at least some time at work keeping track of the results. This might explain why youll be losing an average of 90 productivity minutes per day to the siren call of March Madness.Unsurprisingly, all this bracketing can be terrible for your bottom line. Last year in the first two days of the tournament, it was estimated 2.5 million workers cost approximately $175 million in lost productivity hours. Other estimates put the amount of lost money due to the basketball tournament as high as $1 tausend milliarden dollars. OuchHow Can You Combat March Madness and Preserve Your Corporate Culture?The problem is, your employees love March Madness. Cracking down on the crazy brackets and betting pools entirely is likely to have a negative effect on your hard-won corporate culture. So what exactly should you do to keep your employees working and maintain your org anizational culture at the same time?Put Time Aside for BracketsYou know what they say if you cant beat em, join em. This might actually be a good way to approach the madness sweeping your office. Instead of watching like a hawk for anyone filling in their brackets, put aside a day at the beginning of the NCAA tournament and make bracketing an office affair.By putting aside a specific, measurable time for workers to put together their best guesses, youll be undercutting their urge to work on their basketball bets in the office.Turn The Tournament Into Team BuildingMarch Madness isnt just a productivity drain, it can also be a great way to actually improve your corporate culture. Use the tournament as a way to improve your relationships with employees and get the whole office involved in a fun activity.Sure, its not work-related, but the benefit to your organizational culture might be worth a little office time spent discussing your teams. This team-building in the name of basketball might pay off down the line, when more engaged employees are willing to work together like a well-oiled machine because of the fun organizational culture you established in March.Stress DeadlinesAs fun as getting a little crazy in March can be, you know work needs to get done. Looking at the lost productivity and profits above, you know a little team building is not going to take the place of $1 billion dollars.So while its great to have a fun organizational culture in March, make sure every employee knows the first priority is always to get work done. If all projects are completed, all emails are answered, and your employees have gone over and above, only then is it time to turn an eye towards NCAA basketball scores.March Madness can be a stressful time for your company, but it can also be a great time to improve your organizational culture while keeping your office on track.How do you maintain your corporate culture during college basketball season? Share in the commentsIMAGE Cou rtesy of Flickr Photo by mvongrue.

7 Job Search Tips for Military Veterans

7 Job Search Tips for Military Veterans7 Job Search Tips for Military VeteransTo be sure, the challenges can be daunting. Veterans, including those transitioning into the civilian job market, continue to face high unemployment rates and unique challenges. Still, job opportunities, including flexible work, can be found, and a range of public and private organizations offer support (see below).For those with military service, a good starting point is toupdate the skillsyou may have acquired in the military to suit the current job market. Beyond that, if youre a veteran, there are additional ways to get in prime position for success in the job market.Here are seven job search tips for military veteransHighlight your military service on your resume.Deciding whether to highlight your military hintergrund on your resume can bea topic for debate. But it may be worthwhile to make your military service a focal point of your resume, particularly if youre targeting positions or industry sectors where a military background is advantageous. However, if you suspect your military background is being held against you, make sure you know your rights under the Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.Research local job opportunities.Youre probably well aware that the skills you learned in your military service can translate to job markets around the globe. But make sure you dont forget to check out whats available in your own backyard As a member, you can use our search options to target your job search by geographic location.Show how military skills translate into civilian skills.As a veteran, or the spouse of a veteran, its imperative to build and market skills that can transfer to the current job market. Do your best to take advantage of skill-boosting opportunities that present themselves during deployments, especially if the opportunity offers a chance to learn something completely new.Know the civilian counterparts to your military positions.Seek out milita ry skills translator services that can help you gain an understanding of the kinds of civilian sector jobs that are on par with your military experience. Services like those available onMilitary.com can offer great resources for veterans across all of the nations military branches.Get involved in civilian life.Adjusting to civilian life can offer significant challenges for veterans who may have become accustomed to the comfort zone of military structure. While easing into family life as a civilian can be a major priority, making a career transition can present its own hurdles. In some cases, usingpart-time and temporaryjobs as a career bridge can make the transition easier.Showcase your military awards, honors, andprofessional certifications.By shining a bright punktlicht on everything youve accomplished in your military career, you can demonstrate all the great talents youll bring to the table as a civilian employee. Any specialized expertise or certifications youve earned while in the service can be a springboard for continuing that same line of work in civilian life.Rely on your network to find military-friendly employers.Figuring out how to find jobs that are military friendly, as well as veteran friendly, can be a big step in propelling your job hunt to the next level. Understanding how to capitalize on your networkis a great accomplish for anyone in the job market. Veterans and military spouses alike can get ahead of the game by making the most of the networking resourcesthat may be available to them.These organizations can help in the military-to-civilian transitionBonds of Courage targets both active military and veterans, offering post-service employment support that includes interview preparation, skills translation, and networking advice and support.Veterans Green Jobsfocuses on job opportunities in the environmental and green industries, with an emphasis on helping former military members translate their skills in ways that help the environment.Wou nded Warrior Careers Programis an initiative of the National Organization on Disability that works to help veterans with severe military-related disabilities find meaningful civilian careers.Feds Hire Vetsprovides information and resources to help veterans and their families transition from military to civilian life.Readers, do you have job search tips for military veterans or resources that can help them find rewarding careers? Share your suggestions with us

Talk to Me Artificial intelligence and voice recognition will ...

Talk to Me Artificial intelligence and voice recognition will ... Talk to Me Artificial intelligence and voice recognition will ... Talk to Me Gregory Abowd owns one of the first Tesla cars, built before they were capable of autonomous driving. Abowd may leid have buyers remorse, but since he is a distinguished prof at the Georgia Institute of Technologys School of Interactive Computing and an expert in human-computer interfaces, hes been giving serious thought to how he wants his next Tesla- one that presumably will be able to drive on its own- to handle.One other thing I learned when I took an autonomous Tesla for a drive- I would like it to mimic my way of braking, Abowd said. Its braking style is much too abrupt for me. Today, teaching a smart car such tricks might require some serious programming, or perhaps a lengthy tour through multiple app screens and drop-down menus. But Abowd has a different vision. Within a few short years, he believes, we will be able to tal k with our cars and tell them what we want them to do. Their voice recognition ordnungsprinzips will leid only translate our words, but apply artificial intelligence to understand our intentions as well. Most of us may never learn how to program a cars braking wertmiger zuwachs, but soon we may have a simple way to reach deep into the heart of its control system and customize its behavior. Indeed, we may have the power to program any smart device in our homes, offices, and factories in ways that were previously impractical or impossible for all but the most sophisticated technophile. GE appliances are among hundreds of devices that have the ability to communicate with Amazons Alexa.That sounds radical, but new technology has been simplifying interfaces for decades. In the 1980s, personal computers transitioned from command lines to graphical interfaces that we could access by clicking a button on a mouse. Less than 10 years ago, the iPhones touchscreen and accelerometers revolutionized how we operated handheld devices.Voice recognition, its proponents argue, has the same potential to change what we expect from the everyday products. As those products grow smarter and more capable, voice promises to simplify how we communicate with smart cars, smart homes, smart offices, and smart factories. Instead of mastering one new app after another, voice could make it simpler to command them all.Incorporating voice interfaces will transform product design. The job of the mechanical engineer will be to beschirrung those capabilities, said Henry Lieberman, a pioneer of human-computer interaction at MITs Media Lab. People want to have to understand the details of how things work. Language will become a means- not to help users understand a product more easily, but to have the product understand its users.Machines that hear usAnyone who hung up in frustration on voice-activated virtual assistants such as Apples Siri or on voice-driven customer servi ce centers and never went back has missed the advances in voice recognition. Today it is fast, accurate, and smart enough to understand everyday speech- and consumers are increasingly taking to it. Two years ago, spotty performance discouraged most people from using speech to run Google searches on their phones. This year, 20 percent of queries handled by Android phones were spoken, according to Google. Thats 20 billion spoken queries daily. Voice recognition is also expanding its beachhead in physical products. Many new cars use voice to place calls, set the GPS, write and receive texts, change radio stations, and adjust the temperature. The Eurofighter Typhoon military jet has a speech recognition system capable of controlling communications and allowing pilots to assign targets. This is only the start, Lieberman said. Speech is not only convenient, but also much richer than typing or flicking an app.Think about it, Lieberman said. We only speak to other human beings . So when we speak to a computer, we treat it as another human being. Its like talking to a dog. You know it doesnt really understand you, but you express yourself as if it does. Thats the synergy you get from voice recognition that you dont get from typing.The real sea change wont come from products responding to clearly enunciated commands. Rather, it will happen when they wade through the torrent of half-finished sentences, parenthetical remarks, and place-holding ums- and figure out what we really mean.custompagebreakArtificial intelligence connected to the Internet makes that possible. The machine learning software behind voice recognition analyzes data from actual interactions to improve its performance. By analyzing the words used in searches, for instance, voice systems know which words are likely to go together, and those inferred relationships help them make sense of complex sentences.In the connected world, machine learning software can draw on a billion int eractions a day. That learning shows. Voice recognition can now easily navigate accents or pick out a single voice in a crowded room. Most voice systems are more than 97 percent accurate in identifying individual words. And while virtual assistants may not know the meaning of our words, their ability to link words helps them figure out what we want.Not only is voice recognition more capable, it is also easier for engineers to use. There are many large vendors- Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Nuance, and Baidu- and several offer free software to developers. And semiconductor firms such as ARM Holdings, Intel, and Sensory have introduced new chips optimized for voice. These chips provide fast, reliable voice recognition, even when devices are not linked to the Internet.Nouns, verbs, and beyondThe graphical interfaces weve used for a generation make it straightforward for systems to interpret the commands they receive. A touchscreen may have clearly marked buttons for each input, or specialized apps access different operations. That clarity makes it easy for a device to understand what a user wants.With voice recognition, the same input is used for initiating everything, from setting a thermostat to making a phone call. An always-on virtual assistant in a device that sits on a kitchen counter or desk, such as Amazons Alexa, must field seemingly random requests and figure out whether to access a grocery list or a music library when someone asks for some Red Hot Chili Peppers.Vendors that want to use Alexas voice interface to control their products must first bridge this gap. Wink is one company that has done this. It makes hubs that work with a broad sortiment of home automation products from many different vendors, each with its own capabilities and commands. Wink brings order to this profusion of interfaces by creating a common model for each class of product, Matt Bornski, Winks chief architect of enterprise services, said. Its li ghting model, for example, supports every feature found in smart lightbulbs, from simple actions like turn off or dim to less common ones, such as change colors. Each light uses a subset of these commands.The common interface also makes it easier to link different devices with Alexa. Bornski does this by creating a framework, or domain, for each common model. The domain relates the words we might use to the actions a product can take. This enables Alexa to understand what we mean when we talk to our lights.Wink has been so successful with its common model approach that it recently signed a deal to link the Alexa home automation system with Fords voice-activated car consoles. The resulting system will let customers check the gas tank before the morning commute or turn on their porch light from the car. Creating voice interfaces requires building in safeguards that might not be obvious to those used to tangible controls. For example, Alexa will activate but not disarm a security system. You dont want a burglar to yell Turn off the alarm through the back window, Bornski said. The system also needs to anticipate that it wont work perfectly, given the limits of the equipment and requests from fallible humans.If I tell one light to turn red and it cant, Ill get an error message, Bornski explained. But if I tell all my lights to turn red and only some of them can do it, I would feel frustrated if I got an error message. So our system does what a human would do, and changes all lights that accept the command.Other companies are designing voice interfaces that take into account that speech conveys not just nouns and verbs- but also emotion. IBM, for example, infers the emotional content of words by using its Watson deep learning technology, said Rama Akkiraju, a distinguished engineer at IBM Research in Almaden, Calif. And IPsofts Amelia cognitive assistant can tell when customers are losing patience with automated transactions and call for a live agent.IPsoft got its start developing virtual engineers to automate routine IT tasks. Still, it takes experts to use the virtual engineers. Amelia uses voice recognition so anyone can ask these engineers for help. I can tell Amelia I want to install a new speakerphone in a conference room, said Jonathan Crane, IPsofts chief commercial officer. Amelia will check if the room can support the phone, whether the phone is available, and if I have the authority to order it. It fills out all the paperwork. Instead of me speaking IT, I can speak to Amelia in English and it just does it. Such performance impressed two global consulting firms, Accenture and Deloitte. They recently signed deals to use Amelia to automate business processes and IT center engineering and administration. custompagebreakMarc Carrel-Billiard, Accentures global managing director for technology RD, believes Amelia can help technicians maintain products. He points to air-conditioning repair as an ex ample. We could feed a user guide into Amelia so she understands how it works. Instead of looking for information in a manual or on a tablet, a technician could explain what he or she tried and Amelia would give advice like, If you did this and it didnt work, try that. Over time, Amelia would learn more about how the system worked, and one day might apply what it learned about one model of air conditioner to another.Meanwhile, a few manufacturers have approached Crane about capturing the hard-won knowledge of an experienced but aging workforce. Amelia, Crane said, could act like an intelligent apprentice. It could look over a technicians shoulder, recording and transcribing explanations and abstracting it for later analysis. These conversations are giving us a strong sense of how we might solve these problems, Crane said. Working togetherOther groups are harnessing voice recognition and artificial intelligence to forge new models for human-machine collaboration. Compa nies like Rethink Robotics and Universal Robotics already make collaborative robots. While they learn new tasks easily, they cannot really change collaboration strategies on the fly. But the collaborative robot built at Georgia Tech by doctoral student Crystal Chao, now with Google, and her advisor, Andrea Thomaz, now a professor at University of Texas, adjusts to its human partners by simply talking with- and listening to- them.To show how this works, Chao and Thomaz created a task building a Lego tower. They outfitted the robot not only with mechanical hands and vision sensors, but also with microphones and speakers. Then they gave the robot and its human partner different goals. We might tell the robot to use a red door and the human to make the tower six blocks high, Thomaz said. Sometimes, the robot followed the humans lead, placing like-colored blocks the way one child might copy another. Other times, rather than wait for a command, the robot took the initiative . It might, for example, simply add the red door or ask if the color was okay. The conversation flowed naturally. The robot reacted to human commands, and also to half-formed phrases, laughter, and verbal shortcuts like uh-huh or uh-uh that humans take for granted. Sometimes, the robot even interrupted with a suggestion or a question. The interactions looked very much like the way humans collaborate with one another. In this type of collaborative dialogue, were not leaning anything, were just substantiating what we already know, Thomaz said.The results were far from perfect. Humans are much better than robots at inferring what a partner is trying to do, and to reacting to dialogue that is outside the domain created by the robots developers. Still, this robots flexibility is anything but robotic. It is a glimpse of how AI-driven voice recognition might soon change the way we work with machines. Clearly, voice recognition has a way to go. It still gets simple searches w rong, and nobody is about to use it to control sophisticated machinery. But remember, this is a self-correcting technology that learns from every mistake. It will only get better and better. By coupling natural language requests to the deepest workings of the operating system, we may soon have new types of products that will give anyone access to features that only a professional could manipulate today. Instead of pouring through a manual to find the proper technique for an in-camera effect, one could simply tell the camera, Focus on the faces, and make the hintergrund blurry, and the system would produce the image. A microwave would ask you what you were cooking and then apply a sequence of power cycles to crisp it to perfection. Or the autonomous driving system of a Tesla could respond to the critiques of Georgia Techs Abowd and adjust its brakes- or cornering performance or acceleration- to his liking. It is certainly not hard to imagine technicians working with fl exible robots capable of reacting to their motions and commands on the fly. More powerfully, systems may one day provide advice to engineers looking to boost factory performance, or help designers work through difficult problems when they are not sure how to explain what they are want. Language is a rich enough medium to do all that. And so much more.Alan S. Brown is associate editor at Mechanical Engineering magazine.

Financial Advisor Pay by Commissions

Financial Advisor Pay by CommissionsFinancial Advisor Pay by CommissionsFinancial advisor pay based on commissions is the traditional method within the financial services industry. It is shorthand for saying that clients are charged a fee, usually called a commission, for each security transaction made, whether to buy or to sell. The financial advisor, in turn, receives a portion of these commissions back as compensation, usually through an intermediate process that converts commissions into a metric called production credits. A potential source of confusion comes from the fact that the title financial advisor can be applied to both investment brokers operating according to the suitability standard and registered investment advisors operating under the fiduciary standard. While commission based client relationships are the long-established norm among the former, the latter traditionally work on a fee-only basis. Financial advisor pay may vary by type of security sold, and typically t he percentage he or she retains increases as the total commissions (or production credits) earned during the year increase. It is often referred to as the financial advisors payout rate. The firms matrix of payout rates typically is called its payout grid. Advantages to the Client Basing financial advisor pay on commissions generally is the fruchtwein advantageous option for clients who are long term investors, following a buy and hold investment strategy rather than one which involves frequent trading and rapid portfolio turnover. It is doubly true if the client is largely self-directed and financially savvy, not needing much ongoing attention and advice from the financial advisor. Advantages to the Financial Advisor For financial advisors who are aggressive and skilled in sales, and whose clients are comfortable with investment strategies that involve high transaction volumes, a commission based payment plan can yield considerably higher compensation than alternative metho ds. However, the more active a brsenspekulant a client is, and the greater the financial assetson deposit in the clients account, the more likely the client is to demand (and receive) increasingly discounted commission rates versus the standard rates charged by the firm. Only the most confident and aggressive financial advisors typically succeed in holding the line against client demands for discounts in these scenarios. Conflicts of Interest When a financial advisor is on a commission basis, there is a clear conflict of interest, given that pay is linked directly to generating transactions, rather than to investment performance. The practice by which unscrupulous financial advisors seek to maximize their commission-based compensation through excessive trading is referred to as churning. Churning is a particular danger with so-called discretionary accounts, in which the financial advisor has been granted the ability to enter trades on his or her own discretion, without first obt aining explicit permission from the client. With a non-discretionary account, the financial advisor must obtain such permission from the client for every transaction that he or she proposes. A telephone conversation suffices as a means to obtain such approval. Because of the potential legal exposures, the compliance departments in the most conservative securities brokerage firms tend to place severe restrictions on the ability of clients to open discretionary accounts. Prevalence Among registered investment advisors operating on a fiduciary basis who serve individual clients and have at least $25 million in client assets (these advisors also must be registered to act as broker/dealers), the percentage of those who earn commissions has been 22% in 201023% in 200924% in 2008 Note Some of the investment advisors counted here accept multiple payment plans, which differ by client or client account. Thus the percentages in this study add to more than 100% across all payment types. The se figures come from a study by Dr. Lukas Dean, Assistant Professor and Financial Planning Program Director at the Cotsakos College of Business at William Paterson University in New Jersey. Findings of this study were cited in How to Pay Your Financial Adviser, The Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2011.