PORTFOLIO CREATIVE BLOG

Get More Candidates with an Inviting Job Description

By Catherine Lang-Cline You have a role to fill and you know exactly what skill sets you need. You start your long line of bullet points and it covers every single detail of what you are looking for in a candidate; the amount of experience required, software knowledge, responsibilities…. Check! Check! Check! It’s perfection. Or is it completely boring? Sure, all of these details are incredibly important, but does it sound interesting or inviting? Think about when you receive an invitation to an event. The details are what, where, time,

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Workplace Culture: It’s a Reflection of Who You Are

By Kristen Harris  “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” (or lunch).  This relatively common quote is often attributed to management guru, Peter Drucker, although it’s not really clear who actually said it. Really, it doesn’t matter who said it first, now people say it all the time.  But what does it really mean?What IS culture? And why is it so important? While there are plenty, here is my definition of workplace culture: the set of norms your company and employees live by, otherwise known as “what happens when no one is looking”.

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Why Clients (and Everyone) Deserves More Than a Text

By Catherine Lang-Cline You know how when you read, hear, or see something that it can sometimes feel like that you have been hit like a thunderbolt? That occurred to me recently when I read that Nicole Kidman told Parade magazine that she has never sent her husband a text. “We talk all the time and we FaceTime but we just don’t text because I feel like texting can be misrepresentative at times.” We all know that to be true but I am willing to take that thought one step

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Misclassification of Independent Contractors is Risky Business

By Kristen Harris More opportunities for independent and remote work also means more opportunities to run afoul of employment law. There are a growing number of people who are interested and open to flexible work options and, understandably, companies want to take advantage of their skills and talents. Upfront disclaimer: I am not an attorney or legal professional. This is general information only; be sure to consult with your own legal, tax and employment experts. Okay, back to the topic… Businesses are utilizing a wide range of arrangments, to get

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Color Coding Employees and How it Makes Handing Out Assignments Easier

By Catherine Lang-Cline Most employers are very familiar with DISC, Myers-Briggs, and StrengthsFinder analysis testing. We at Portfolio Creative use the book “StrengthsFinder” by Tom Rath when we hire new associates. It has helped us understand people as soon as they step through our doors, as well as see where they are going to be effective on the team. We also use a much simpler analysis that anyone can do and it is a quick read of anyone on your team, not to mention, yourself. It is called the Color

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Flexible vs Remote Work Part 3 (keys to making Remote Work work)

By Kristen Harris In Flexible vs Remote Work Part 1 we talked about these two workforce trends and dug deeper into Remote Work in Part 2. So, depending on what needs to be done, Remote Work can be a great option for both the company and worker. But we don’t see a lot of companies embracing this trend, or even considering it. They may think about it in a traditional sense, where they outsource a project to another business or freelancer, but there are other situations where it works just

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Flexible vs Remote Work Part 2 (are you missing great talent?)

By Kristen Harris In Flexible vs Remote Work Part 1 we talked about these two workforce trends, and how they are NOT the same thing. Flexibility is becoming more commonplace in business and can be a great retention tool. But Remote Work is another trend that is getting a lot of attention lately. As a refresher, Remote Work is when the job doesn’t need to be done in the company’s offices. The person might work from home, a coffee shop, the library or a co-work space. With our knowledge economy

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Flexible vs Remote Work Part 1 (p.s. it’s not the same thing)

By Kristen Harris Flexible Work and Remote Work are two key workforce trends that keep gaining steam. They’re often lumped together but, while they CAN be related, these two things are not the same. Flexible Work simply means there is some measure of flexibility in the job. This may be how, when or where the work is done. Having a 10-hours/4 days-a-week schedule, working from 7-4 instead of 9-6, or working 30 hours a week at a prorated salary are all examples of flexibility. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and

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Maslow’s New Model? Career, Community and Cause

By Kristen Harris I’ve always been interested in psychology and human nature–in another life I might have been a shrink. So a Harvard Business Review article about a recent Facebook study caught my eye.  Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? It lays out five levels of human needs, making the case that each level must be met before you’ll care about the next level. The folks at Facebook didn’t feel the model fit today’s information age workforce, and wondered what a modern version might look like. Facebook has data…a LOT of

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The 3 Things Employees Really Want: Career, Community, Cause

By: Lori Goler, Janelle Gale, Brynn Harrington, and Adam Grant for the Harvard Business Review  Strike up a conversation about work values, and it won’t be long before someone brings up a pyramid — a famous psychologist’s best-known theory. Abraham Maslow’s big idea was that we all have a hierarchy of needs: once our basic physiological and safety needs are fulfilled, we seek love and belongingness, then self-esteem and prestige, and finally self-actualization. But that pyramid was built more than half a century ago, and psychologists have recently concluded that it’s in

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