A resident of Waterbury, CT, Valerie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Connecticut. She also earned her Master in Public Administration degree from the John P. Burke School of Public Service at Post University in Waterbury, CT in May 2014. In her time at Post University, she participated in CDCOLOGY, a student based research program managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She earned several awards and distinctions for her work and participation in this program. The program supported her ability to solve complex issues, provide project management assistance, and support with health policy and budgeting concerns. It also permitted her work to be evaluated by CDC policy analysts. Valerie has also received a Statement of Accomplishment with Distinction from The World Bank Group in Delivering Better Services with Public-Private Partnerships. She is a member of Post University’s MPA Alumni Mentorship Program in which she guides students with their Capstone projects prior to their Dissertation and completion of the MPA program. Valerie joined The Center for Economic Policy and Development, Inc. as a Director in March 2015. In her tenure, she was responsible for the overall strategic and operational functions, including the development of programs, initiatives, projects, and execution of the mission. She also maintained a commitment to the leadership, management, communications, planning, and new business development of the organization. Valerie is currently the CEO and owner of Valerie Martinelli Consulting, LLC. in which she offers Life, Leadership, and Career coaching for women as well as various Management and Human Resource consulting services such as program development, management, and evaluation, human resource audits, and employee handbook and other policy developments. Valerie is also the Founder of Innovate 50/50, a gender equality initiative based on mentorship for women and advocacy for equal rights. She is also the Host of Innovate Women, a monthly Twitter chat which discusses current events, the workplace, the business world, social media, and more that affect women. Most recently, she has joined the expert panel of Women’s Media Center She Source.
Website: http://askvmc.com/
Job searching during a crisis can be difficult but not impossible. In this case, it does mean that recruiting and hiring becomes digitized in order to protect yourself, your employees, and the candidates. While some companies are slowing or halting their hiring efforts until the situation improves, some are still actively seeking new candidates.
Whether we are ready or not, the technology in HR continues to expand. For some, it has already expanded so much that they are unclear and confused as to which tool is needed for a task. Some jobseekers are still becoming acquainted with ATS (Advanced Tracking Systems), which I discussed in my October 2019 blog on how it affects resume writing for jobseekers. To the dismay of some, Talent Relationship Management systems (TRM) are now being added to the mix.
When I hear from my millennial clients that they are leaving their jobs it is usually one of three reasons. The first is that they are feeling bored, stagnant, and underutilized. After all, 64% of millennials would rather make less at a job they love than make more at a job they find boring. The second reason is that the workplace is lacking learning and growth opportunities to enhance their career potential. This is also demonstrated by the 64% of millennials who state that they will leave their job if they feel that there is a lack of career growth. The third is that they are seeking flexibility within the workplace.
One of the biggest mistakes I see jobseekers make is keeping their search confined to job boards. Some of the issues with job boards do lie with employers and their standard practices. ATS is becoming the norm, which is making hiring and recruiting a low-touch profession and it is wreaking havoc on the candidate experience. It takes longer for candidates to receive a response – if they even receive one at all. Many clients have told me that prior to having their resume optimized it would end up in the black hole- what is commonly referred to as the deep dark hole in which a resume falls once it is determined that it wasn’t a fit for the role.
One of the questions that I get asked the most is if cover letters are dead. The truth is, no, they are not. As I wrote about last month, ATS is scanning resumes for keywords to filter them more carefully. Due to this, some believe that cover letters slow down the screening process because they force hiring staff to read another document. This isn’t necessarily true, however.
HR departments receive more resumes than ever because job applicants have more options than ever to apply. This also means that resumes must be filtered more carefully. To handle the increase in applications, more and more organizations are turning to Applicant Tracking Systems, or ATS to scan resumes much more quickly.
I spend a lot of time listening to job seekers discuss their skills and accomplishments and expressing their concerns as to how those skills can help or hinder their job search and their careers. Unfortunately, not enough emphasis is put on soft skills, which are the most important ones. Soft skills are the non-measurable, subjective skills that are not specific to one’s role, industry, or their career. They typically speak to how well one interacts with others. They are essentially personality traits that help define one’s character, however, they do offer less proof of their experience.
A topic that has been discussed a lot this week in the office with my clients is employee engagement and business results. Employee engagement is the degree to which employees demonstrate commitment, belief in organizational values, pride in their employment, and motivation to excel. When organizations prioritize employee engagement, they are investing in the retention of successful employees and helps boost the organization’s overall level of performance.
In 2019, tech will continue to take over the HR industry and disrupt the way candidates are recruited, hired, and engaged in the workplace. You’ve heard of AI and machine learning. However, have you heard of robotic process automation, or RPA? RPA has also been reducing costs and improving data management for HR. Robotic process automation performs rules-based, highly transactional processes in HR departments that require little or no human judgment.
The end of the year is always the perfect time to consider trends and predictions for the New Year. As the Human Resource Management sector is on track to reach $30 billion by 2025, we will continue to see new innovations and solutions take hold in 2019. But how will these innovations affect job seekers? Let’s look at some of the predictions and what some of the trends for job seekers in 2019 will be.