Path to Workforce is SmartBrief Education’s vision of college and career readiness, encompassing K-12, adult learners, career changers, non-traditional students and those who forgo a traditional four-year college experience. Stay tuned for more #Path2W coverage, including expert insights and reader feedback. The goal of every educator, and the purpose of our education system, is to prepare students for success in learning and life. This includes preparing students for successfully joining the workforce. Yet, recently, young adults have been making headlines as studies like the recent Educational Testing Service’s report find they are ill-prepared for the working world. Research increasingly shows that students are leaving college without the essential social-emotional skills required to thrive in a business setting. Though employers have always valued skills like collaboration, patience and communication, our traditional education system seems to sidestep their importance. Conventional academic subjects, such as language and math remain critical; however, the case for cultivating essential life skills and character traits early in a child’s educational track gains more supporting evidence as the business community struggles to find qualified candidates who work well with others, are honest, respectful and communicate effectively, Academic knowledge is just one aspect of the foundation children need to be successful in school, in life and in their careers. Business leaders have been vocal about the challenges they are facing to find young candidates who possess what they refer to as "soft skills," or skills that allow people to interact harmoniously with others. According to a 2014 study by Bentley University, 61% of business leaders believe these types of interpersonal and social-emotional skills are the most important skills for young employees to have, yet 63% gave recent college graduates a "C" grade or lower on soft skills. As with skill development in all subject areas, preschool is the best place to begin nurturing social-emotional skills that help children establish the right foundation. In fact, a recent report by the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child recommends that all early-childhood programs balance academic learning with emotional and social development. At Primrose Schools, social-emotional skills are an integral component of our curriculum and are fostered through robust life skills and character development programs. Children participate in daily classroom experiences that nurture life skills and character traits such as being responsible for the environment, teamwork, respect and kindness. Lessons are presented in a variety of formats, including class discussions, art projects, puppet play, games, role playing and experiential giving projects, ensuring every child develops a comprehensive understanding of each concept. Though these activities are designed specifically for the developmental abilities of pre-K age groups, life skills and character development can be integrated into more advanced curriculum as children progress through grade levels. It’s both rewarding and inspiring to see children as young as three years old not only embrace the concept of giving without expectation, but also find joy in it. It’s also delightful to see them happily "clean up" their classrooms and put away their toys with a sense of pride. Feedback from elementary-school teachers and parents alike reinforces that children who experience our life skills and character development program display key social and emotional traits, including acting with responsibility, being more considerate of their peers, following directions respectfully, and even demonstrating more honesty and compassion than typical of their age group. The life skills and character traits we’re nurturing are the same ones identified as lacking in young adults today by businesses struggling to find ready candidates. It’s no coincidence that social-emotional skills are gaining more attention now, as individuals reared in a time of digital distractions, decreased personal interactions and increased globalization begin to enter the workforce. Never before have these skills been more important, and yet never before have they required such a concerted effort to instill in young children. We must take a more purposeful and intentional approach to integrating social-emotional skill development into education. Life skills and character development lessons should start during the first five years we know to be so critical for early brain development, and they should continue to be nurtured through all grade levels. By ensuring a whole-child approach to education, we can encourage and enhance children’s cognitive and social-emotional development, helping them to become well-rounded adults along the way that prepares them for success in school, life and the workforce. Jo Kirchner is president and CEO of Primrose Schools, a national accredited early education and care provider serving 46,000-plus children in more than 300 schools across 25 states. She is an active board member of Reach Out and Read, AdvancED, ReadyNation and the Early Care and Education Consortium (ECEC). If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering career and technical education, educational leadership, math education and more.  Related Posts: How is the U.S. faring in the great #skillsrace? How making expands students’ visions of themselves You can’t spell "college and career" without CTE Educator innovation: Re-Making teaching and learning #SBSTEM Pathways: Q&A with Kimberly Tobey, NACCTEP Raising a ready workforce: The missing curriculum component originally published by SmartBlogs

Creating your own unique, high-quality Facebook content can be a very time-consuming job. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be, as Facebook isn’t just about your content. It’s also about sharing other people’s content. After all, a community is formed by sharing of ideas and messages, not just people and organizations talking at each other. Many managers of high performing Facebook pages share content from other Pages every day—and see big results. Because curated content helps fill in the holes in your content calendar, it should map to your strategy, be high-quality and fit your page (message, type of content, etc.) While each audience is different and you need to know what will resonate with yours, these five simple and easy ways to find content will work for any page manager looking to successfully repurpose content for maximum effect. Streamline content curation It can be just as time consuming to find great content as it is to create it if the process is not automated in some way. Luckily, this is made easier than it seems with the help of several tools on the market such as Hootsuite, Buffer, Crowdtangle and ActionSprout (of which, in full disclosure, I am co-founder) that will show you those posts that are taking off on their Pages—which often is a good sign that they’ll work well on your page, too. Share the content or use these success cases as a way to brainstorm ideas for creative posts of your own. Boost supporter engagement The Facebook News Feed does not slow down. There’s a lot going on, making it easy to miss something important. Imagine how your supporters would react if you could find the best content related to your mission on Facebook, and consistently deliver it to them, helping them not miss out on important news, events or memes? Everyone wants to be the first of their friends to like, comment and share the hottest content on Facebook, and your supporters are no different. Doing so will help transform your Facebook page into a source of solid and relevant information, which will boost engagement and reach. It enhances trust with your audience and your credibility, turning you into an expert in your nonprofit niche. Take for example this top trending image: Or this article: Illustrate your value It’s all about becoming a valuable resource. When you can dig up great articles that your audience is interested in—regardless of the source—you’ll earn abundant respect. Building trust and credibility doesn’t happen overnight. You’ll have to post great content for a while to gain a reputation of quality with your audience. Add your two cents! When sharing a piece of content, add value to the conversation: • What did you like about the piece? • What was most important? • What did you learn? • What do you hope others will learn? • Or pose a question. Adding your own thoughts can be a great springboard to start a conversation and encourage followers to become more engaged. Be sure to respond to folks in the comments and encourage them to contribute. Build digital karma Online, what goes around often comes around. Want to get noticed by a powerhouse in your ecosystem? Share their stuff with your audience over the next few months and always add your two cents. While it’s not a sure thing that they’ll notice your efforts and repay them, without a doubt it works more often than not. How Often Should You Share Other People’s Content? While your audience really determines the ideal original content to curated content ratio, as demonstrated to you through analytics and tracking, a popular formula that works well is Give, Give, Give, Ask (as popularized by bestselling author, Gary Vaynerchuk). Let’s break down that perspective: • Give (Others): Share a great blog article full of information that enriches the community from a heavy-hitting website and generates support for your organization. Don’t ask for anything in sharing this. Just add to the conversation. • Give (Yours): Post/repost a native video created by one of your followers. It’s funny, inspirational and/or makes a point. Again, don’t ask for anything, just share. • Give (Others): Share a high-quality image taken by an independent photographer supporting the greater community. Just share with your perspective. • Ask (Yours): Create an original post with an ask, or curated call-to-action, to generate a pre-determined response - such as e-mail address for a newsletter. The formula above creates a sense of sharing, contribution and helpfulness that will take you a long way in growing engagement. And that usually means 60% to 80% of your posts will be sharing other people’s content rather than posting your own. While not every organization has the bandwidth to create 100% of their content 100% of the time, luckily the very nature of social media is about sharing and participating in a greater ecosystem. Pair these tips and tactics with analytics to better understand what types of content engage your audience, and then create a cycle of content curation that you consistently fine-tune to maximize audience engagement. Shawn Kemp is co-founder of ActionSprout, where he helps power people’s ability to create lasting change by connecting organizations with their supporters. Related Posts: Don't be a Facebook failure: Unlock the viral potential of social media through contests, comments and sharing Why you should never take a vacation from Facebook 8 ways to increase fan engagement with your Facebook posts How to attract Facebook friends without sending a single friend request 3 ways restaurants can be more engaging on Facebook 5 steps to sharing other people’s content originally published by SmartBlogs

(Photo: Flickr user Jason Howie) Social media has become an important platform for supermarkets to engage with customers, but retailers need to learn to balance the control they have historically exercised over their communications against the power that their employees and customers wield on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest. In many cases, it is the customers who are diving the conversation, and often it is to the benefit of supermarket operators, according to three food retailers on a panel on social media at the Food Marketing Institute’s FMI Connect show in Chicago. Hy-Vee, the regional supermarket chain based in West Des Moines, Iowa, has a strong customer following for the Chinese food it offers in its stores. These fans have coined the term "Hy-Chi" for the hot, prepared offering, and several years ago began posting messages on social media using that term with the hash tag #HyChi. These posts were often accompanied by descriptions of customers’ cravings for the food or the satisfaction it delivers. This behavior — unprompted by Hy-Vee — spurred the chain to develop a marketing campaign around it. "Customers were doing it already, so we just put it in a marketing campaign," Nathan T. Wright, digital marketing and innovation leader at Hy-Vee, said at the presentation. "We adopted behaviors customers were doing already." Hy-Vee launched a photo contest using the hashtag #HyChi and began releasing secret deals for #HyChi on its social media channels. The efforts drove a huge increase in use of the hashtag, and helped build awareness for the brand without being intrusive, Wright explained. "We don’t want to interrupt their lives; we just want to be a part of it," he said. Hy-Vee operates a social media "war room" where a team of associates monitor social media activity and engage with customers through social media and other channels. Because of the high level of autonomy at the chain, each of its 235-plus stores has its own social media, supported by headquarters. Similarly, Associated Wholesale Grocers, the cooperative wholesaler based in Kansas City, Kan., found that sometimes the enthusiasm of consumers can manifest itself in unexpected ways on social media. When a customer posted an unflattering description of the ground beef from one of the company’s member stores on a private social media site, AWG was alerted by another customer who was concerned on the store’s behalf and wanted the store to defend itself. Without addressing the original post directly, the store shot a video with a smartphone explaining how it grinds its beef fresh in its stores and posted it online. It quickly became a sensation. "It was a huge success," said Kate Farrow, marketing manager at AWG. "It was just a video showing how they make their ground beef, and people loved it." AWG maintains a Customer Connect Center — dubbed C3 — staffed by four digital specialists who assist member retailers with things like their websites and social media. The company also has enjoyed success promoting its private labels on social media, and it uses the feedback it gets on those platforms to help it deliver the right products to market, Farrow explained. Maria Brous, director of media and community relations at Publix Super Markets, Lakeland, Fla., also noted that followers will often rally to support the company on social media. "Your fans are out there, and they will come to your defense," she said. Publix seeks to replicate on social media the high level of service it is known for in its stores, Brous explained. The chain now employs seven full time workers to manage its social media channels, all trained "to speak the company language" when it comes to providing customer service. She stressed that supermarkets who are not paying attention to social media may be doing their customers a disservice. "They are having a conversation with or without us," she said. "If you are not on social media, you are missing a whole world right now." Other advice from the panel: Retailers need to educate their customers about their social media channels so they know where to find them. "You can’t just build it and hope people will come," said Farrow of AWG. Social media needs to have shared ownership among departments in an organization, said Brous of Publix. "Social media can’t be run in a silo," she said. Retailers need to remember that pre-scheduled marketing posts on social media might need to be canceled when serious issues are being discussed. "You don’t want to be putting a marketing message out there when you are responding to a crisis," said Wright of Hy-Vee. Susan Borra, senior vice president of communications at FMI, who moderated the panel, noted that the association offers access to extensive research on social media compiled by the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council at ccrrc.org. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Retailers, manufacturers look to strike the right balance on the front end How the food industry is making sense of big data How to engage millennials through customization and curation Meijer, Unilever execs: Capture today’s consumer with trust, evolved marketing How Sprouts uses customer analytics to improve marketing and loyalty Food retailers find allies in social media followers originally published by SmartBlogs

In my capacities as executive coach and professional development provider, I regularly prepare presentations for live and Web audiences. Whether the focus is on content or sales, I know the importance of a strong presentation in delivering value to clients and promoting my business. We have all attended great presentations that left us wanting more. And then there were the ones that gave us the itch to get up or log out. Oftentimes, the difference between the two talks has nothing to do with the presenter’s experience or content knowledge. Rather, it came down to knowing their audiences and finding ways to connect with them early and often. Identifying your audience allows you to be as precise as possible with your message. Ask yourself who will be in the room and what prior knowledge they bring to the conversation. What are their challenges and how will your product, service, or content help them overcome them? Keep that in mind as you prepare your language and examples. Recite.com If you are not sure who will be in attendance, then you will have to rely on your sixth sense. As you begin your talk, you may choose to informally survey the audience so that you can keep their specific needs in mind as you go. If you turned out to be way off during planning, acknowledge that so that it becomes clear as to why you chose to shift from your game plan (assuming that there is a slide presentation, handout, or something similar that was developed for the presentation.) There are a number of other steps that you can take that will help make your presentation shine. Prepare as far in advance as possible. Get your core presentation in place early on so that you can spend as much time as you need tweaking and editing. As you learn more about your topic (the best presenters keep learning, all the way to the end and beyond!) you may want to make modifications. The same is true as your audience becomes clearer and other logistics settle as well (such as the final duration that you’ll have for this workshop.) The readier you are in advance, the easier it’ll be to make those changes. Keep things clear and simple. It can be tempting to spend meaningful time adding bells and whistles to your presentation, in the form of cool graphics, transitions, sounds, and the like. Keep in mind that these people are not coming to listen to you become of your animations but because of your content. Sure, beautiful slides and graphics will add to what you have to say, but they will not make the sale. Review again and again. Another benefit of an early start is that you can let things settle in your mind. I rarely present anything without the benefit of a good night’s sleep. By stepping away you become less attached to the material, which creates more objectivity. Maybe that quotes list or data that you worked so hard to develop really does not add so much after all. The farther you are from the initial effort, the more willing you will be to let go of the useless or distracting content. Distribute for feedback. Once you are generally satisfied with what you have put together, circulate the presentation to a few pairs of trustworthy eyes for feedback. Maybe they will catch a glaring error. More likely, they will flag ambiguities and assumptions that you really ought to be avoiding. People like this can mirror the intended audience in terms of what they understood or did not grasp and how they envision it going over with an audience. Become fluent. The better you know your content, the more fluid, natural, and confident you can be. Fluency allows you to use your displayed and printed content to supplement your message rather than to drive it. This keeps them focused more on you and your message. Tell a good story. Successful salespeople routinely speak of the importance of making a strong connection with a potential buyer. More so than not, people will buy or accept from those that they like and trust. One great tool for instant rapport and trust is storytelling. Talk a little about what you and why you do it. Let them see your passion and feel your energy. Use stories to drive home points and underscore urgency. Stories keep people interested and connected to the end, when it’s time for you to deliver your final message. Naphtali Hoff (@impactfulcoach) became an executive coach and consultant following a 15 year career as an educator and school administrator. Read his blog at impactfulcoaching.com/blog. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader. Related Posts: Redefining smart Your culture drives your presentations every time Linking educational silos Moving up the value chain of public speaking: The interpreter Blazing your own path to success 7 steps toward a successful presentation originally published by SmartBlogs

Many workers are beginning to recognize the need to redefine career success in new ways. With fewer promises of progression by way of promotion and with today’s fluid, highly responsive organizational structures, we can no longer evaluate career success against the broadly accepted criteria from the past: movement ever forward toward that higher position. So, if our former definition of success was based in outward advancement that may be less available today, how can employees find career satisfaction? It all comes down to crafting contemporary definitions that reflect and support current business realities. Three key elements are emerging as alternatives to the old "onward and upward" model: growth, gratitude, and generosity. Growth For too long, growth and promotions went hand in hand. Development meant moving into new roles that would offer different opportunities. Today’s environment demands that we uncouple these factors. Growth is possible and available right where any employee finds him or herself. Rather than waiting for an upward (or even lateral) move to enable growth, employees who are redefining career success are seeking opportunities to build skills, expand capacities, generate broader networks and cultivate experience within their role. They are exploring their interests and areas for improvement and are getting creative about finding ways to develop without ever making a move. The really clever ones are connecting the dots between the areas they want to develop in and real work that needs to get done — creating an unbeatable value proposition for busy managers. For example: Tomas is part of the sales function in an organization known for being mean, lean and flat. It’s clear that upward mobility is not likely, as the only natural promotion would be to a role occupied by the owner’s 30-something son. But that’s not stymieing Tomas’ sense of success in his career. He’s redefined success as gathering as many skills, tools and experiences as possible — either to deploy in this organization or another. So, realizing that he likes working with his co-workers and that he would benefit from improving his public speaking skills, Tomas volunteered to handle sales training for the next quarter. Needless to say, Tomas’ boss was delighted because he wasn’t sure how he was going to get that training done, and Tomas gets to realize his new definition of career success. Win-win! Gratitude In addition to growth, increasingly employees are trading their old definitions of success that were based in promotions and movement for definitions that are more qualitative and oriented on quality of life. People want to work for organizations with an appetizing mission, something they can sink their teeth into and feel good about supporting. They want to work with people they like and respect. They want to do work that brings them enjoyment and satisfaction, work that puts them in the flow state, allowing them to activate their strengths and talents and contribute to high-quality outcomes. Feeling a sense of gratitude for these qualities at work (and feeling appreciated in return) is quickly emerging as a powerful alternative to the old definition of what career success looks like. Generosity As the workforce ages and the ranks of baby boomer employees grow, it’s not surprising that many people no longer set their sights on "that next promotion" but rather are beginning to consider the legacy they will leave. As a result, the definition of career success has shifted for some to being able to make a genuine and lasting contribution. These employees want to work under conditions that spark a spirit of generosity and enable them to give back in a way that satisfies some intrinsic needs. Conversely, they are looking for generosity from their employers in return — whether it’s flextime, work-at-home options, or creative scheduling to better meet their needs. This reciprocal generosity defines for many what career success is today. The business landscape is changing and, if we’re to remain satisfied with our lives at work, so must our definitions of career success. Growth, gratitude and generosity can offer updated alternatives that breed energy, happiness, and fulfillment at work — redefining success in 2015 and beyond. Julie Winkle Giulioni is the author of "Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want," with Bev Kaye. Giulioni has spent the past 25 years improving performance through learning. She consults with organizations to develop and deploy innovative instructional designs and training worldwide. You can learn more about her consulting, speaking and blog at JulieWinkleGiulioni.com. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily career development newsletter. Related Posts: When the growing gets tough Career development begins with care Blazing your own path to success Battling the bulge: Handling the expectations of too many employees for too few promotions Overcoming obstacles to reinventing yourself Career success 2.0: An evolving definition originally published by SmartBlogs

FMI President and CEO Leslie Sarasin presents her keynote at FMI Connect From technology to fresh foods to branding strategy, Food Marketing Institute‘s FMI Connect had food retailers buzzing about industry hot topics. Among those topics was a focus on meals, which was a theme carried through keynote addresses, education sessions and the show floor. At the center of the focus on meals at FMI Connect was FMI’s upcoming National Family Meals Month initiative, which will take place in September and employ retailers to help with the goal of getting families to share one more meal per week at home with food from home eaten together, FMI President and CEO Leslie Sarasin said during her keynote on Wednesday. According to recent research she presented, there have been major demographic, economic and culture shifts that have all led to significant changes in what American households look like. "The concept of the family has shifted," Sarasin said. "We have to broaden the scope of what we as an industry imagine a family to be." For example, there are fewer households with children now, and more households of one. And the American population has shifted into what Sarasin called a "shared shopper paradigm" in which household members are sharing more of the grocery shopping responsibility. The grilling category has also seen some significant shifts recently, Ed Hernandez, marketing manager for McCormick’s Grill Mates, said during a session at the Fresh Pavillion on the show floor. According to Hernandez, shoppers have not only shifted to sharing responsibilities for grilling, but they are also turning to produce and different proteins like ground beef and poultry when they make plans for grilled meals. To take advantage of this, retailers can simplify shoppers’ grilling choices and purchases by creating grilling centers that feature special displays and end caps within their stores that prompt the shoppers to create a whole meal on the grill. Some examples Hernandez gave of what successful retail efforts in this category might look like include putting a Grill Mates display near the corn in the produce section to encourage shoppers to consider jazzing up their grilled corn on the cob, or shifting the positioning of McCormick products within stores so that when shoppers who pick up the McCormick products run right into the ground beef or poultry section. When appealing to shoppers’ tastes for grilled meals, Hernandez said retailers should take advantage of grillers’ desire to explore new flavors. "New products, new ideas are really how to stoke interest in this space," he said. The mascot for National Family Meals Month watches a demonstration on the show floor at FMI Connect In particular, Sarasin said during her keynote that today’s multiperson households need help with things like food planning, list making and developing overall food strategies, which are all things they would be willing to turn to retailers for. And retailers, in turn, can help shoppers make healthier fresh food choices, especially through initiatives like National Family Meals Month. Sarasin pointed out that kids who participate in family mealtime are more likely to report having better relationships with their parents and to eat healthier, and they are less likely to be overweight, have eating disorders or participate in dangerous behavior. She also talked about the health benefits of family mealtime, as eating at home is healthier than eating out, and consumers said in the research Sarasin presented that support from family members is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. "Regardless of the shape of your family, there are benefits to family meals," she said. Allison Liefer, director of foundation relationships for the nonprofit Common Threads, also talked about the power of family meals at the Health and Wellness Pavilion on the show floor. Through its programs that include after-school cooking programs, teacher trainings and parent workshops, Common Threads aims to end childhood obesity by teaching kids what to cook and how to cook. According to Liefer, cooking is a key life skill and the hands-on experience that Common Threads provides makes kids more likely to try and eat healthy foods, and it also makes kids excited about cooking both at school and after they leave the program and are at home in the kitchen with their parents. Kids who participate in Common Threads are more likely to ask their parents to buy the foods they work with through the after-school program and they are more likely to want to grocery shop with their parents, the organization’s research has shown. "We connect the kids to themselves…we connect the kids with their peers…and we connect the kids with their parents and communities," Liefer said. At ShopRite and Price Rite parent Wakefern Food Corporation, Retail Dietitian Supervisor Melanie Dwornik and Manager of Health and Wellness Natalie Menza talked about how the retailer helps influence consumers’ meal choices through its dietitian program. Through the program’s efforts targeting kids, Wakefern’s dietitians encourage trying new foods and helping with meal prep at home. And through the program’s culinary nutrition efforts, dietitians host in-store workshops and demonstrations to encourage shoppers to cook healthy meals at home, Dwornik said during a session in the show floor’s Learning Lounge. Wakefern’s dietitians communicate with their customers through print and digital media, as well as in person, and one of their priorities is to give shoppers new food ideas on a regular basis, Menza said. "The easier you make it for customers, the more likely they are to take your recommendations," she said. For Menza, one of the most important things is for retail dietitians to know the stores and the customers so they can "connect the dots" and really encourage healthy meal choices. As Sarasin pointed out in her keynote, putting a bigger emphasis on meals also allows retailers to appeal to consumers who are increasingly seeking convenience. Ready-to-eat foods and meal preparation kits present opportunities for retailers to position themselves as a healthier alternative to quickservice takeout, especially if they use all eating occasions, including breakfast, to try to draw consumers in. "The first step is committing to the concept," Sarasin said. "Clearly in this case the real money is there." __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: Food retailers find allies in social media followers Retailers, manufacturers look to strike the right balance on the front end Partnerships, networking set the stage at FMI Connect Experts: Using mobile technology to enhance the dining and shopping experience Elevating loyalty programs in the digital age Food retailers come together at the dinner table during FMI Connect originally published by SmartBlogs

This post is sponsored by GSMI. Creating an engaging candidate experience in recruitment requires a personalized touch. However, that can be time consuming for resources that are already stretched thin. Automating your marketing efforts makes sense but communications run the risk of sounding impersonal. What’s the best way to strike a balance? Start with messaging. Too often, recruitment repels the talent they’re trying to attract by trying too hard to be cute or clever and not hard enough to add the substance candidates are actually interested in. Gather insight on the activities of your candidate pool. What technologies and social networks do they use? What communities do they participate in? This will not only inform your messaging, it will enable your line recruiters to start better, richer conversations with prospects. Next, find out what motivates your candidates. Understanding their passions and interests allows you to create more meaningful content, suggests the Dice Definitive Guide to Attracting Tech Talent, a new guide from Dice and John Vlastelica, of Recruiting Toolbox. The best recruiters, the authors assert, "know what motivates candidates as much as what the company is interested in." And finally, be sure to include information about culture compatibility. I touch on this in a recent post on Social Recruiting Strategies Conference‘s blog. Recruitment is more than just securing the right salary and benefits. It includes placing candidates in the right corporate culture. Workers succeed when they not only love what they do but where they do it. Make sure your messaging shows how an employee fits a company’s work environment. Marketing automation with a personalized touch Now that you know what to share, let’s talk about how to share it. Candidate communication typically comes from either emails written directly by recruitment staff or through "talent networks." These networks use a communication strategy called "drip marketing" that sends automated email messages to candidates over time in set intervals (or ‘drips’). While this mass messaging saves the recruiters time, candidates complain this feels impersonal. It often is.  Personalized messaging can scale for high volume recruitment. "Personalization" doesn’t have to mean hand-written communication on scented colored paper. The "little something extra" that candidates really want can be addressed with communication, much of which can be automated, yet still feel as though it was personalized. Enter lifecycle email marketing Lifecycle marketing refers to campaigns that address the needs of your audience -in this case, talent you want to recruit - over time. It allows you to segment individuals based on various factors, such as job family, experience level, status in the recruitment process (prospect, candidate, interviewing, etc.) and level of engagement (time they’ve been "in the funnel," whether or not they’ve filled out profiles or applied for roles in the past, etc.). You can then send tailored marketing messages and communicate information that’s relevant to each segment, building a stronger sense of affinity within your talent pools. So how does it work? Check out this example below: In this example, the candidate learns about a company in which he or she has shown interest, through a series of 12 easily digestible emails. The emails are delivered over the course of 21 days. You could also add in gradual investment requests of prospective candidates even before they apply for a job by including webforms that ask candidate wants (i.e. what’s their desired career path after sharing career path options for their job family). Enter this data into your CRM as part of tailored marketing preferences. Better candidate engagement starts by stopping the perpetuation of the "one-size-fits-all" recruitment approach. When we, as employers, embrace the differences in the candidates that we recruit across our various job families, we create better candidate experiences that lead to improved employee conversions. When we allow our recruitment programs to invest in tools such as Dice Open Web for researching social data, Elevated Careers to assess culture fit before the point of hire, and marketing automation platform (MAP) such as Smashfly for email campaign creation and management, we help relieve recruiter overload and ensure the messages shared around the value they bring as employers are aligned with candidates’ interests, skills and personality. In respecting candidate individuality, we actually shine a better light on our ‘brand individuality’ as well… and that’s a win for everyone. SRSC Presenters Allison Kruse and Crystal Miller will hold a hands-on workshop on how to craft compelling social messaging at the Social Recruiting Strategies Conference being held in Boston July 21st-23rd in Boston, MA. Don’t miss this three-day conference packed with incredible learning opportunities . Reserve your spot today!  Crystal Miller is founder and chief strategist at Branded Strategies in Dallas, TX. Ms. Miller also serves as an advisor for Elevated Careers by eHarmony and other HR technology companies. Additional information about Elevated Careers by eHarmony’s employer beta program, is available by contacting danerickson@eharmony.com. Related Posts: Advertising Leadership Series: Q-and-A with 4A’s CMO Alison Fahey Gamification and Big Data: Allies in the war for talent Live from #2013GC: Talent acquisition requires a rethink of the workplace Is HR (as a job category) dead? CareerBuilder’s Matt Ferguson, on the importance of agility in 2011 Attract better candidates using marketing automation originally published by SmartBlogs

SmartBlog on Education will highlight summer learning and enrichment for educators during June. In this blog post, English teacher Mike Saenz explores the concept of "teachers as scholars." As an English teacher, I often find it interesting to pick apart the way we use language. For instance, when asking someone what his or her job is, we usually don’t say: "What is your job?" Instead we say: "What do you do?" In reply, we say something like: "I am a teacher." I think these phrases are telling. They both imply that a job is not just a thing you do to earn money, but rather your job is what you do, period. (I teach.) The title of your job isn’t just the title of your job, it is who you are. (I am a teacher.) Because I am a teacher, because teaching is what I do, I should always be looking for ways to upgrade myself and my product. There are techniques I use in my class that need to be improved, lessons that need to be rewritten or customized and processes that I ask my students to work through that often need to be revisited by a teacher. In the summer, I won’t be actively teaching students, but I’ll still be a teacher. It is after all, what I am. So what does being a teacher consist of over the summer? At my school, we utilize a flexible online curriculum that allows us to customize our courses and create lessons to best meet the needs of our students. So each summer I take a step back and think about what needs to be changed in the courses for the upcoming year. I read through some novels, dramas, short stories and essays that could be interesting to incorporate into lessons. This is fun for me, and certainly improves the classes I teach, but this isn’t enough. After all, since I have the entire summer, each year I should try to tackle at least one ambitious project. This summer’s project is to address some issues with student writings. Many of my students don’t know how to develop strong points in their compositions. The first places I’m looking for answers to my problem are Aristotle’s "Topics," and Cicero’s "Treatise on Rhetorical Invention." Why Aristotle and Cicero? In part because I’m familiar with these authors and find them interesting, and in their works they touch on the students’ problem I’m trying to solve: How do you find the right questions to ask that will prompt a student to expand ideas around a particular subject or stance? These sources will give me the leads needed to effectively address the above challenge, as well as lead me to other sources or perhaps discover that a lead is a dead end. Whatever the outcome, my experience has been that long-term study (especially of great thinkers) with an eye toward advice for teaching always has good results, even if the results are not the answers to the particular problems you start with. This study is an integral part of what it means to be a teacher. Being a teacher means being a scholar. Of course, other teachers might naturally study other things according to their interests and needs to solve their respective issues that lead to equally valid results. I’m the only teacher on my campus that studies philosophy and rhetoric on the side, but I’m not the only teacher that comes to the classroom with new and interesting ideas. Other teachers study what they think is most interesting, what will help them develop best, and what will help their classroom and our campus most. This diversity in teachers’ contexts of knowledge is a great advantage on our campus. We bounce ideas off of each other throughout the year, ideas usually coming from radically different places, and it is all of this interesting scholarship that flavors our campus’ intellectual climate. According to the historian Arthur Bestor, "Liberal education is essentially the communication of intellectual power. That it cannot be communicated by someone who does not possess it — by a teacher who is not also a scholar — is self-evident." We are teachers. As teachers, we deal with knowledge and thinking. We teach students how to research. We teach how to think critically and how to think creatively. Who then is more responsible than the individual teacher to research, study and innovate for his or her own classroom? What message are we sending to our students if we aren’t the embodiment of this process? Let’s not forget that part of our job as teachers is to effectively sell learning. It is imperative to convince our students that being a learner and innovator for life is fun, rewarding, and life furthering. The first step in selling this idea of learning is to be a shining example of learning and innovation ourselves. Mike Saenz is an English (and sometimes piano) teacher at Falls Career High School in Marble Falls, Texas. He is an avid studier of philosophy and all things Ancient Greek, and a sometimes-amateur classical pianist and composer. Falls Career High School uses the web-based platform from Odysseyware to customize courses for students. If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about education. We offer newsletters covering educational leadership, special education and more.   Related Posts: Channeling Goldilocks: Trying to get it "just right" Is tech helping you work smarter? The world is my audience Replacing print where it matters most: Textbooks The serious business of classroom fun What if all teachers were scholars? originally published by SmartBlogs

Gulf Wild tagged red snapper, linking fishermen directly to their catch. (Photo: Jeff Clark) There is no doubt that sourcing food locally is a hot topic for restaurateurs, chefs and their customers. In fact, of all the trends captured in the National Restaurant Association’s What Hot Culinary Forecast this year, locally sourced meats and seafood were among the most popular. Purchasing these items is a great way to get fresh product and it also helps tell an enticing story to customers who want to know where and when a fish was caught or if the bacon they’re eating was supplied by the farmer down the road. One issue that remains though: Just because food is local, that doesn’t mean it is better for the environment. So, how do you source food that is both local and better for the environment? Example of eating lower down the food chain. (Photo: Jeff Clark) At our annual NRA Show, the Conserve team organized local food sourcing panels to discuss this topic in detail. We gathered advice from three local food education sessions from previous NRA Shows. These chefs — Rick Bayless, Susan Feniger, Douglass Katz and Harvard University program director Barton Seaver — outlined how they started buying local meat and seafood and why it was important to them. They recommended the following five steps to sourcing locally and sustainably: Visit farmers markets. Farmers markets often have meat and seafood purveyors offering interesting catches, heirloom breeds and different cuts of meat. While typically a more expensive choice, they not only are flavorful, but can be (but are not always) easier on the environment. Buying from local sources also helps support your community’s economy. Develop relationships with local suppliers. Talk with area fishermen and butchers and ask a lot of questions. Ask them how the animals or fish were raised or caught. Question them about their philosophies on the use of antibiotics, feed, and protecting wild plants, animals and river ecosystems. If the answers are unsatisfying to you, buy your products from other purveyors whose environmental efforts are more in line with your own. Buy lower down the food chain when possible. Many chefs like to serve their customers juicy burgers, seared lamb kabobs or perfectly roasted salmon, but when appropriate, also serve locally-farmed mussels, clams and oysters. Those are not as environmentally intense to raise and offer amazing and diverse flavors that can really spur your creativity. Ask what other chefs are doing. Want to know how your peers are handling complex issues surrounding food sourcing? Ask them to share their experiences with you. Find out whether their suppliers helped them source food locally and provided more sustainable options. By working together as a group, you can influence local farms and fisheries to practice less impactful methods or you can get larger distributors to assist you in those efforts. Empower your staff to tell the story of your food. Front-of-house staffers are the ambassadors of your restaurant and menu. They can tell the stories of your food in rich detail, so help them make that tale their own, in their own words. See what they get excited about and help them foster food descriptions they can be proud of. Let them broadcast their story loud and clear for your customers to enjoy. By spending time not just looking for local food, but supporting sustainable food practices, you can support your local butchers, fishermen and farmers for generations to come. Jeff Clark is program director for the National Restaurant Association’s Conserve sustainability program. __________________________________________________ If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s email list for more stories about the food and beverage industry. We offer 14 newsletters covering the industry from restaurants to food manufacturing. Related Posts: No Related Posts 5 steps to sourcing more sustainable local meat and seafood originally published by SmartBlogs

Even the minor stress of life’s little annoyances — traffic, long meetings and tight deadlines can take a toll on our well-being, sense of personal balance and overall effectiveness. You might wonder how that could be a concern to your management style, since you’re regularly devoting time to your leadership skills. If you’re the only one affected by those minor stresses — after all, you do your best to navigate office politics and minimize their impact on your team — what does it matter? Medical and psychological studies have shown that when we’re worn down by stress and burned out, our openness to new ideas, our ability to connect to others and even our moral judgment can be compromised. Practicing renewal techniques brings us back to a place where we can provide the kind of leadership we want to deliver; it’s not only good for us, it’s good for our teams, our jobs and everyone around us. The key to renewal isn’t just in reducing our stress at work, but also in what we do outside of our office hours. Restorative benefits come from doing those things that bring peace, calm and joy to our lives. Perhaps it seems cliché to say we need to slow down, but really, there is great rejuvenating value in pausing for a moment to take stock of our accomplishments and relish the aspects of our world that really bring us pleasure. To generate a sense of renewal in your own life, try some of the following: Take time to be in the present: do yoga, go for a walk, practice tai chi, meditate or even just sit for a moment, taking a few breaths to calm yourself and think about nothing. Direct your energy for others: volunteer in your community, offer to buy a coffee for a homeless person, pick up some trash around your favorite park or scour your closets and kitchen cupboards for charitable donations, Plan your future: take a few moments to think about your future and to properly map out the dreams floating around in your head. Try imagining your ideal retirement plans, or coach yourself on what you want for your coming years. Think big and think positively! Laugh and play: go out and experience the things in life that put a smile on your face. See a movie, go to a play, have a drink with friends and joke around. Fall on the floor with your kids or play soccer in the park. Do what brings you simple joy for its own sake. Enjoy compassionate relationships: Spend time enjoying and appreciating your spouse and your kids, take your dog to the park or sit for a while relaxing with your pet. Take your vacation: be more present when you return — by leaving! Taking your vacation is critical to restoring balance and renewing your focus and commitment. Stress makes us more closed off, harder to reach and less productive overall. It might seem counterintuitive, but when we spend time and energy on ourselves, we have more energy to put into improving our relationships with others. Taking time for the things that renew us makes us better leaders. Joel Garfinkle is the author of "Getting Ahead: Three Steps to Take Your Career to the Next Level." As an executive coach, he recently worked with a mid-level manager who learned to develop her executive presence and gained the respect of her team, enhanced her profile with the company and built the confidence she needed to excel. Sign up to his Fulfillment@Work newsletter (10,000+ subscribes) and you’ll receive the free e-book "41 Proven Strategies to Get Promoted Now!" If you enjoyed this article, join SmartBrief’s e-mail list for our daily newsletter on being a better, smarter leader. Related Posts: How to disconnect from work and enjoy your vacation Celebrate mistakes: Creating a culture of forgiveness The smart creative: How to spot them, how to use them How can leaders help defuse an employee outburst or stressed-out reaction? Procrastination: What is it costing you? Soothing stress: Taking time for yourself makes you a better leader originally published by SmartBlogs