Bonnie Dilber’s Post

Remote work: - Saves people thousands in the cost of their commute, as well as other costs that may come from paying for additional childcare - Helps the environment by cutting down on carbon emissions from so many people commuting - Makes the workplace more accessible to those with conditions that may make it more challenging to work in an office environment or commute to an office. - Makes the workplace more accessible for those who cannot afford to live in city centers or who live in countries where opportunities may be less available. - Increases workforce participation for women. - Gives people time back that can be used to spend time with loved ones, take on hobbies, build side businesses, take naps, or whatever else they want. And there's no research-based evidence of any loss of productivity from remote work. So then why is there a debate? What are the drawbacks? - The wealthy real estate owners who own those office buildings or rent out homes in expensive areas lose some of their wealth. - The wealthy business owners who profit from tax incentives for placing those offices in city centers lose out on those benefits. - The people who benefit from women having to exit the workforce now have women who are a bit more empowered and have options due to their financial status. - Those who were handed jobs because of their privilege now have a bit more competition. Is the problem in the room with us? Because I'm not seeing it.

I'm excited to share that I'm kicking off a new partnership with Secta Labs! I first discovered Secta while trying out every AI headshot platform out there, and Secta was the only one that delivered pictures that actually looked like me! I've since done like 10 more "photoshoots" (what can I say, I'm addicted, plus they keep adding new features!), I've recommended it to friends and colleagues, and scrolling through LinkedIn, I can see a lot of you have loved their headshots as much as I do. And if you'd like to give it a try, we're offering you all a discount - just use this link: https://secta.ai/bonnie Great photographers are worth every penny, but sometimes, we don't have the budget to hire a photographer, or we may have other constraints that make it difficult to get camera-ready. And in these situations, I love Secta as a great way to get fantastic headshots for social media, personal branding, your website, etc. Feel free to share the discount link with anyone in your network, and tag me when you share your headshots!!

Show, not tell. It's something we talked about regularly when I was an 8th grade English teacher and it's something I think about when I look at most resumes. 💰 Instead of "proven sales leader", try "Increased quarterly sales by 30% through the implementation of a new marketing strategy that focused on social media and influencer partnerships." 📜 Instead of "detail-oriented", try "Conducted a thorough review of over 100 contracts, identifying and correcting errors that saved the company $200,000 annually." And make sure to hit the point home by showing that detail-orientation in your resume, application, etc. 👬 Instead of "team player", try "Collaborated with a cross-functional team of 10 to launch a new product, resulting in a 20% market share increase within the first six months." ☎️ Instead of "communication skills", try "Delivered presentations to executive leadership, resulting in the approval of a $1 million project budget for department expansion." 💡 Instead of "innovative", try "Developed a new software tool that streamlined data analysis processes, reducing time spent on reporting by 50%." 🤖 Instead of "automation" and "AI skills", try "Designed and implemented an AI-driven chatbot that reduced customer service response time by 60%, enhancing customer satisfaction and reducing operational costs by 25%." Outside of hard skills (like SQL or Python or agile methodologies), those soft skills and other descriptors mean nothing to the person on the other end. They are just buzzwords, and recruiters skip right over them because there's no objective way for them to know if you actually have those skills. Instead, bring them to life with examples that demonstrate how those skills deliver results for a business. And if that feels tricky, each of the examples above was generated by ChatGPT - you can share some of your real experiences, and it will help you create similar examples that are accurate for your experience. (And they'll be even better because your examples will be more specific than the ones above!)

One of my top LinkedIn tips is to find posts about jobs as opposed to simply searching the job board on LinkedIn. This allows you to: 1. Identify jobs that were recently posted. 2. Verify that the team is actually hiring for that role. 3. Know who to contact about your application. Have you tried this approach? Let me know how it worked for you!

In 2024, it's normal for really talented people to: -send out hundreds of applications before landing an interview -not even hear back on half of those applications -post about looking for a job and be inundated by sales pitches from predatory resume writers and career coaches -hear conflicting information because a lot of influencers leverage jobseekers as a path to gain followers with clickbait or to make sales over adding value and be lost around how to navigate the job market -not even land interviews for jobs they were being aggressively recruited for a few years ago -find themselves running out of financial resources, and worried about losing cars or housing or keeping food on the table for their families -be targeted by fake job postings and scammers masquerading as recruiters for well-known companies that waste their time and leave them skeptical around every communication they receive As someone who works in recruiting and hears from hundreds of jobseekers a week, I'm pretty well aware of these challenges, but I talk to people who are surprised by the current market every day. If you've been employed for the last 2 years, it's easy to be oblivious. So if you're interviewing someone and they follow up to check on their status daily, or they ask if there's anything else they can share to be considered, or they contact 20 of your colleagues to make sure their application gets reviewed, or they tell you they desperately need this job, or they've had 4 jobs or been underemployed in the last 2 years...don't view these as red flags. View them as people who are have been on the losing side of an economy that's benefited many. While shareholders are seeing their stock values sky rocket, it's cost many employees their jobs. While rising prices have helped boost profits for many companies, it's resulted in many individuals depleting their financial reserves even more quickly, or pushed people onto the job market because their current paychecks don't cover their expenses. No individual can change this alone (at least no individual that is going to end up reading this). But we can expand our ideas around what great talent looks like and drop those outdated concepts around resume gaps or job hopping being flags or eagerness being flags. We can be responsive and communicative to every applicant at our companies. And we can all offer some understanding and some empathy. ETA: I share advice for navigating this market in Landed! (subscribe/more resources here: https://lnkd.in/ggasyZAS)

I know so many are interested in landing remote jobs (maybe even at Zapier!) so our Talent Acquisition team is excited to offer a Q&A on June 26th! Whether you're interested in more general job search and resume tips, or have specific questions around Zapier's processes, we're excited to answer your questions and connect with you! We'll have members from across our TA team including Tori Criswell, Luciana Raleigh, Allan Leung, Darcell Edwards, Kim Wilkes, and Casey Firey, SHRM-CP joining. You can submit your questions in advance via the form in the event, or drop them below. This will be an audio-only event so no need to worry about being camera-ready. Excited to "see" you there, and invite anyone you think would benefit!

Interviews are two-way streets. So don't be afraid to ask your interviewers those hard-hitting questions! "Forward me the last 10 emails you sent your team. I want to see what kind of leader you are." "Take me on a tour of your bathroom. A manager who can't keep their home organized certainly can't keep their their team on track." "Give me the contact information for 7 former employees, an ex, and your 3rd grade teacher. I need to do some reference checks to get a better picture of who you are." Interviewing is a two-way street, and you deserve to have as much information about the company and team you're joining as they're gathering about you. But if this isn't your style, I'll share more tips for "interviewing" your future employer in today's issue of Landed!

I have heard some recruiters and hiring managers say they hold the following things against candidates: -gaps in employment -job hunting while unemployed -job hopping -being at one company for too long -being too enthusiastic about the company and job -not being enthusiastic enough about the company and job -lack of degree -where your degree is from -being over qualified -lack of promotions -rapid promotions -reaching out after applying -not reaching out after applying -not sending thank you notes -a messy or chaotic background on Zoom -typos -being dressed too casually -being too formal I could go on, but I'm gonna hit my character limit soon. So here's my take: Some of these are out of your control and these companies are probably doing you a favor because you wouldn't fit in and be happy there, even if you do have the skills to do the job. These are not the right work places for you. Eventually, they'll fail or their employees will push back...but it's probably not a battle worth fighting for most people. But some of these ARE within your control (and things I try to do when I'm interviewing!): 1. Ask the recruiter for guidance on what to wear to the interview. 2. Zoom has great sound filters, but try a pair of headphones or an app like Krisp (what I rely on) to drown out background noise. 3. Zoom also has great background filters, or upload the picture of your choice to hide a messy background. 4. Check your resume, application, etc. for typos. Hiring teams assume these are "final draft" quality documents so typos can lead to questions around work quality. 5. Send a thank you email (added bonus: it's a great opportunity to share a work product, add on info you wish you'd shared in the interview, etc.) Do I think companies should hold these things against candidates as standard practice? No. But do I see some relevance to job performance? Realistically, yes. If it's a customer-facing role, then showing you have a professional work set up can help inspire confidence in how you'll represent the company. If the role requires writing, a well-written resume and application can show off your skills. Thank you notes are standard in sales so sending a thank you note following an interview is a great way to show how you'll approach the job. And these are all things any applicant can do to avoid getting rejected for minor reasons that don't fully reflect your ability to do the job. Hiring practices are evolving slowly but surely - and the places that choose to operate with outdated biases are going to get left behind. Let them learn the hard way. But some of these biases may also connect to the skills you'd demonstrate in the job - so focus on these, and make sure that these don't end up being reasons to reject you.

Three reasons you may want to work at Zapier: 1. We build cool products! Automation and AI are obviously two big buzzwords, and getting to be a part of a company building products that help make these tools accessible and easy to understand for everyone is exciting. We help connect over 7,000 apps today...when I started here 2.5 years ago, that number was around 5,000 if that gives you an idea of how quickly we're building! 2. We're remote! Anyone who has been on the job market knows that 100% remote jobs are hard to come by so follow remote companies and make sure you're an early applicant as we tend to get higher volumes of applications due to fewer geographic constraints. 3. We have a great total rewards package! Of course base salary, bonus, and equity are great, but my favorite benefits are the unlimited PTO (which I make great use of personally, and love seeing my colleagues use as well!) flexibility that allows me to fit in things like pre-school pick-ups and doctor appointments, and the various budgets that have allowed me to set up a really comfy home office! Have I piqued your interest? I hope so! Because our jobs page just relaunched with some great new videos and company info (go check it out, and then scroll down to see if any of our openings are a good match!!) And if you want to learn more and have questions, I encourage everyone to join our live on Wednesday at 12 PST/3 EST! Hopefully I can call a few of you colleagues soon!!

Reasons your employees may be "slacking": -they haven't had a vacation in years because they can't afford time off. -they are sick but coming in anyway because they don't have sick days or are worried about the expense of going to the doctor. -they don't have adequate childcare and support for caregiving responsibilities. -they had a baby 2 weeks ago and are already back at work because they aren't covered by FMLA, and even if they were, they can't afford unpaid leave. -they are late to pick up their kids but they are afraid to leave work 15 minutes early again because Karen from accounting made a comment about being nervous about hiring a new mom because she has to pick up the slack for parents on her team. Things employers can do to fix this: 1. Pay your employees well. No, money can't buy happiness, but in the society we live in, it has a huge impact. People who struggle with debt are more likely to have depression. They may be working second jobs, they may be skipping meals, they may be skipping time off, they may be avoiding healthcare. And all of that impacts how they show up at work. 2. Give your employees generous PTO plans - and let them use it!! The US is one of the only countries in the world with no minimum PTO requirements. I'm lucky that I've had really generous PTO at every job I've had with 15+ days off, along with several office shut down weeks. Currently, I have unlimited PTO and am supported to use it. This means I've always been able to take vacations, see family, etc. But I know people who get just 10 days a year, and often have to save those to see family once a year for the holidays. That lack of opportunity to disconnect can make it hard to do your best work. 3. Provide paid parental leave The US is one of the only countries in the world that does not offer mandatory paid parental leave. No one should be back at work a few weeks after bringing a child into the world. It's bad for parents, and it's bad for children. No one can operate at anywhere near their best when they're waking up every 3 hours through the night, recovering from physical trauma, and trying to adjust to their changing family structure. 4. Provide a strong benefits package. Insurance is a minimum. Are your employees paying out of pocket for therapy? Are they going into debt due to IVF? Are they paying thousands out of pocket for prescription medications? Are they scrambling to keep up with rising childcare costs? Advocate with insurance companies to get more of the coverage your employees need. Offer fertility benefits (we use Carrot Fertility!) Offer childcare benefits or backup care. These are great ways to not just support, but retain and attract talent. 5. Offer flexibility. Hire great people, and trust them to do great work. Trust that if they leave at 3 to pick up the kids or get their nails done, they'll wrap things up later and deliver results. In the long run, employees who feel trusted, empowered, and valued will stay.