Our blogs

14 Aug, 2023
Rephrasing the famous song, “Love is in the air”, let’s talk about change is in the air – and everywhere. We grow. We change. Look at your childhood photos. Watch your kid, your nephew, your niece. The change is there, and it’s incredible. Nature is constantly changing. We wait for summer as the time to enjoy outdoor activities and gardening, for a quick visit to the beach, or simply take time to relax and spend time with family, friends and loved ones. We wait for winter (even if we never see snow falling) to decorate the house for the holidays, pack presents for the people we love and unpack our own. The colour of the leaves changes, the weather shifts, and flowers blossom in their time – the landscape is constantly transforming. The world around us is changing. We travel to other countries and learn new things, cultures and languages. We take on new hobbies. We get new skills. After a couple of minor kitchen accidents (sometimes), we can cook delicious dishes and get compliments from family and friends. We transform our bodies at the gym or simply by creating the habit of walking every day. We meet new people, we sometimes fall in love, we build families, we have kids. And if you step back for a second, you realise you might have met your other half by pure accident. But you took a leap of faith into the unknown. We embrace many types of unknown change, except for the one that can change how we live five days a week – to change jobs. “I am too old/too young to change”, “I’m used to this environment; It’s my comfort zone”, “Well, I don’t get any promotion, and what I do doesn’t change the world, but it’s stable”, “I am afraid to ask for more interesting projects. What if my manager fires me?”. We often don’t want to change because that step requires a vision, courage, external support, and a leap of faith into the unknown. Scary? Yes. But also promising. A step into the unknown? Yes. But it can open a new door. Do your inner values marry what you do? Yes, it is essential. There is nothing terrible about staying in your comfort zone. At some stage of your career, staying put can be an excellent decision. But if you feel that you need a change – talk to Kelly. We don’t mind going the extra mile and support your wish to embrace the change. The one which will give meaning to what you do, feel proud, motivated and fulfilled. Ready for changing? We’ll make sure your talent can truly shine.
10 Aug, 2023
You’ve seen these guys before when a circus came to your city or maybe on TV. They walk on a wire at an impressive height, sometimes without insurance, sometimes with a long stick that probes the void right and left. They walk slowly, trying the wire with their toes first, making small steps, their eyes fixed on the small platform where they plan to land soon. They never watch down. They don’t listen to an audience that applauses or gasps in awe. They are concentrated on keeping their balance. To keep balance. Let’s come down from the wire above the arena or stage. Let’s look closer at balance, where it has its roots and the secrets of keeping it. Is it an art? Or is it a skill? Can you learn to keep balance? Or is it an innate skill that only gymnasts, figure skaters, circus artists and ballet dancers are born with? Want to know the secrets of a ballerina that must perform 32 fouettes, a complex ballet movement that requires turning 360 degrees at a high-speed standing on the point of a ballet shoe? First, keeping balance is a skill people must learn for years. In ballet, sport, circus, real life, and… work life. A ballerina is taught to pick one point and to fix her eyes on it when she makes her 32 fouettes, a complex ballet movement that requires turning 360 degrees at high-speed standing on the point of a ballet shoe. She focuses on one thing that keeps her upright. She doesn’t look anywhere else. Gymnasts in some disciplines are constantly trained to feel the bar under their feet. They are prepared to land precisely on the bar after they jump, and the incredible contortions we admire in competitions. But let’s come back to the circus artists we have begun with. Often, they have a long stick in their hands to keep their balance. Is their secret hidden in the stick? And what is the secret? You don’t need to be a ballet dancer, a gymnast, or a circus artist to get the idea of balance. Here are your first two steps in your balance training: 1. Keep your main priorities in mind. And have a clear idea about what is very important for you and where you are ready to compromise. But don’t listen to external opinions that don’t align with your ideals. Forget about the audience’s applause – focus on you. 2. Use some help to stay upright and get to your goals. Imagine your life split on two ends of the helping stick, your job is on one end, and your private life is on another. How comfortable do you feel at your height now with the load on both ends? You need support. We at Kelly pay a lot of attention to balance. The balance between people’s private lives and their jobs. The balance between feeling appreciated and professional goals or between achieving extraordinary results and being inspired. Talk to Kelly today. We are not ballet coaches or sports trainers, but we know much about how important work/life balance is in our lives.
03 Aug, 2023
We often associate certain qualities with individuals who seem to possess a natural talent for creativity. We convince ourselves that painting, singing, or dancing are pursuits reserved for these "real" artists while we remain mere spectators. Creativity? Inspiration? No, it's not about me.
31 Jul, 2023
At first sight, the word enthusiasm seems to have manifold meanings. Many different emotions and ideas are hidden within it. Enthusiasm is what could be called a wallet word – an often overlooked, valuable keyword.
07 Jul, 2023
If you are a parent of a little adventurer of the age of 3 to 13, you know that song by memory – “Into the unknoooooown, into the unknoooown”, supported by images of a fearless young woman that goes away from a royal, stable and comfortable life to snowy mountains.
06 Mar, 2023
‘Quiet’ trends seem to be here to stay. We’ve seen people ‘quiet quit’ by collecting their salary for doing the bare minimum. And managers have ‘quiet fired’ employees by slowly fading out their work and reducing communications. Now, ‘quiet promotions’ are loading employees up with additional work and responsibilities - without an accompanying increase in salary or job title. The one type of promotion you don’t want? A quiet one. There’s a global talent shortage in many sectors, and people are prioritising themselves by leaving jobs where they are underpaid or undervalued. So, to overcome those challenges… well, some employers are piling the extra work onto their remaining employees. The problem is, they aren’t heaping any of that additional salary onto them, too. And whether this is a new phenomenon, or if it’s just being noticed more now that people are more protective of their wellbeing (and their rights), it’s hard to say. Just how big is the quiet promotion problem? A huge majority (78%) of the American workers surveyed by JobSage believe they have received a ‘quiet’ promotion. And in a depressing twist, 68% have voluntarily taken on additional work in the hope that it will help them to win an actual promotion. And only 22% of people had intervened in attempts to quiet-promote them. The data doesn’t say whether or not that group of people were awarded the necessary pay rises to go with the additional work, or if that work was allocated elsewhere, such as to a new hire (or perhaps a less assertive colleague). Or, if they ended up having to do the extra work regardless. What does a quiet promotion look like? There are a few ways to tell if you’re in the running for a quiet promotion. Keep an eye out for these tell-tale signs: Colleagues who leave are not being replaced, or are replaced with more junior or part-time roles. Increasing disparity between your own workload and that of others on the same salary or with the same job title. Being required to cut back on responsibilities such as your own learning and development in order to take on more work. Being invited or required to attend meetings that were previously outside of the scope of your work. Being asked to take on new work, or to ‘help out’ colleagues or your manager with work you would not normally have done. How to avoid a quiet promotion Fortunately, there are lots of steps you can take that make it more difficult for managers to ‘quiet promote’ you. But before we dive into those, a word of caution! Within almost any role, there will be a requirement for you to be flexible. If, for example, a colleague leaves suddenly or has a very difficult-to-hire-for role, it’s not unreasonable for your boss to ask you to take on some of that workload. And there are other situations in which you may take on additional tasks, such as training replacements or acting as a representative for your department in consultations on a new project. So, before you go in ‘all guns blazing’, check that you’re not just being asked to show a little flexibility. But that said: don’t let anyone take advantage of your flexibility. Here’s how to protect yourself. Read your job description - often! Your job description (JD) includes (or at least, should include!) a list of tasks that you are required to do in order to receive your salary. Sure, it probably has a vague ‘and other tasks as required’ clause at the end. But that doesn’t mean they can stick you with a whole other person’s JD, too. So, familiarise yourself with what’s expected of you and regularly keep note of any tasks that you’re either not doing any more, or are being asked to do but are not on your JD. Those notes will be so important to you if you need to show your boss how your workload has increased. In some cases, they may not even realise. Data and evidence are your friend! Talk with your boss frequently Regular one-to-ones with your boss are a great place to discuss your career development and aspirations. For example, if you want a promotion, tell your boss that you’re actively working towards that. Ask for the job description for the role you want and see what the similarities and differences are. You’re less likely to end up doing that work by accident if you know that it is supposed to come with a pay rise and the new job title you want. Be assertive Being assertive is a fantastic skill to have in the workplace. If you’re naturally shy, introverted or anxious then the trick is to not react to things in the exact moment that they happen. If you are asked to do something and you believe it’s outside of your role, you can accept the task until you have time to formulate your argument against it. That will save you blurting out an ill-prepared response. A great structure for pushing back on work is: “I have noticed that [observation about additional workload]. This feels like a significant change in my responsibilities. Can we discuss how this might affect the rest of my work?” That way, you don’t sound like you’re saying ‘no’ outright or making a fuss. You’re just seeking clarification about your role boundaries and whether/how they’ve changed. Why quiet promotions harm company culture When it comes to giving people additional work without increasing their pay, there are some employees who just won’t stand for it. For example, if they’re too assertive or know their JD inside out! So that puts even more pressure on the others, which creates an inequality that can lead to resentment. And of course, when those people that have been supporting the weight of the organisation - for free - finally snap and leave? That’s 1.5-peoples’ worth of work that will need to be redistributed. It makes no sense from a cultural or economic perspective to ‘quiet promote’ people. What to do instead of quiet promotions? The world of work is changing rapidly. It’s important for organisations to be flexible in order to hold on to their talent. If you are a manager and your team has more work than people to do it, try one of the following: Hire more people (if you’re struggling to do so, consider being more flexible in terms of working from home, shift patterns and operational hours - for all of your employees). Offer optional paid overtime. Offer a secondment for people who want to take on extra responsibilities for extra pay; for example, trying out the next step in the career ladder (on full salary) for three months. Review your processes and eliminate any inefficiencies, automate tasks where possible. Outsource the work to contractors. Look at work experience or paid internship schemes (but don’t add ‘training the interns’ to anyone’s JD without a suitable raise!). There are lots of novel approaches you can take. Don’t be afraid to ask your people for their suggestions, too. The better rapport you build with your employees, the longer they’ll stay with you. Quiet promotions are not a long-term strategy. Being a great employer is.
06 Feb, 2023
First of all – everybody makes mistakes. Humans because of their nature, machines because of their non-nature. The only way to not make any mistakes? To never do anything. To stay completely still. But then, you can’t learn anything or make progress, either. A strange phenomenon over the past few years is that of ‘F*ck-up Nights’ hosted by senior people who share their experience about the mistakes they have made on their journey to the top. The logic is simple: learning from someone else's mistakes allows you not to repeat them yourself. But making your own mistakes can open a totally new chapter in your career - especially when people around you (including your boss) are able to look at it through a lens of learning and positivity. Mistakes can open the door to innovation, insight and breakthrough results. Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. Critical feedback is the best feedback It’s nice to hear praise, but as the best customer support people will tell you: you can’t learn and improve on positive feedback alone. Many companies reward constructive (or ‘negative’, provided it’s helpful) feedback to encourage them to share the things that could be improved, however large or small. This type of feedback gives you direction for change, inspires creative thinking and can even give rise to new directions for a business. Even the most successful companies have disappointed customers and made poor strategic choices. But they are successful because they took these opportunities to learn and made something of them. Fail fast and learn quick Of course, young companies, small businesses and start-ups have more freedom to try out different approaches – and as a result, make mistakes and failures faster and learn from them faster as well. The new format you’ve designed for social media doesn’t work? Change it! People better react to only two colours in your bag collections? Limit the colour range! We at Kelly have recently hosted a great career event – the first of its kind for the industry. We had great plans, big ambitions. No, we didn’t fail (quite the opposite!) but many things did not go as planned and we had to learn on the fly from the situations. Now, we are quite confident that next year's event will bring us even better results. ‘Try-learn-move forward’ in action! Fear of punishment – is it a trap? How many great inventions have not happened because of the fear of punishment? We can only imagine. When people make a mistake and try to hide it, it often leads to worse consequences further down the line. And think about what it does to your motivation! If you are told by your boss that no mistake will go unpunished, work suddenly becomes more stressful than ever. Are your leaders open to mistakes? Would your boss talk openly about lessons other employees can learn from your mistake, rather than making you feel bad or firing you? If yes, you’re in (a) good company! Why great people talk openly about their mistakes Mistakes teach valuable lessons, especially in the business world, and it takes embracing mistakes as learning opportunities to grow and see future success. All great leaders - modern and historical - speak about their mistakes in books, articles and interviews. Great sportspeople, too; every mistake they make teaches them how to improve by 1%. All of their mistakes combined are what makes them the best at what they do. And just like in sports, at work you cannot become a better version of yourself with falls, failures and mistakes teaching you how to become a little better each time.
18 Jan, 2023
The RFP process is crucial when it comes to choosing a recruitment provider. We fully understand it can be a timely and costly process. We hate to say it, but there are probably a few things you do that are making it worse. But, don’t worry, we’ve developed a quick guide below that will show you what not to do. This will save you time and ensure a high standard outcome. 1. Don’t just look after the pennies (close your windows) There is no denying that price is important and often a huge influence on the winner of the proposal. However, don’t fall into the trap focusing solely on price and forgetting the rest. In today’s climate, recruitment agencies are determined to keep prices low. However, in all programmes, inefficiencies are happening, which drives costs up (a bit like trying to heat your house in the winter with all your windows open). We work hard to implement policies that keep costs as low as possible, without sacrificing your core needs. When at proposal stage, our advice would be to keep cost in mind, but ensure the proposal is aligning with your needs as best as possible. – this is key. 2. Boring. Rigid. Forms You are busy! We can all agree that there is nothing worse than sitting down, coffee in hand, to complete a bid, and being greeted by a rigid and tedious form – one you’ve likely seen many times before. An image, infographic or chart can paint a thousand words. Having the functionality to include this will go a long way. You will be grateful to be greeted by some colour and visuals throughout. It also highlights the effort the company has put into the RFP. Think about this – if the company go to great lengths and really care about the look and feel, the essence of the RFP, this really sets the tone for how the process will move forward. It is more likely they will put a lot of effort in at the implementation and delivery stage. This is something to keep in mind. A well-crafted RFP document will likely define the quality of the submissions and is essential to reaching your organisations strategic goals – treat it that way! 3. Slooow, or (even worse) no question responses You know who you are. The questions come in, but no answers. All over, RFP consultants are perched on the edge of their seats waiting. And waiting. “Why does it matter?!” I hear you cry. Deadlines. Desire to craft our best solution. The mountain of other RFPs. Of course, there are some bid teams who will send over hundreds of questions and slow down the whole process, but most just want some solid clarification on a handful of points. We understand this can be time consuming. Our advise would be to pick and choose the important/most impactful questions, or maybe respond in batches. You will be helping us meet our deadlines and allowing the whole process to flow smoothly. This will also mean you get to the evaluation stage quicker. 4. Understanding requirements This may seem like a given, but it often gets taken for granted that RFP’s are not a one size fits all. It is hugely important that there is a proper understanding of the requirements well before the RFP process begins. A lack of skilled internal expertise will be unlikely to lead you to your desired outcome. It’s very important that the people responsible for the RFP have the knowledge to ask the right questions and have open communication with the suppliers. Your time is valuable and it’s essential that you are going to gain from the RFP process. We recommend having a clear and concise outline of requirements before drafting any RFP document – this will save time in the long run.
18 Jan, 2023
Candidate experience matters. It can affect your brand's reputation. Like unsavory opinions, bad candidate experiences can spread like wildfire.
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