A novel way to be more productive at work

We all know that it is important to keep fit. We hear it all the time from our friends, co-workers and through all forms of media. If none of these have motivated you, here is a new reason. Being active during your work day can actually make you more productive at work! I am serious!

According to a study performed by Jim McKenna, from the University of Bristol, being physically active during the workday can help you to feel more productive, less irritable and more tolerant of your co-workers.

Here at BluEra we take fitness to heart with our intense bootcamp twice a week led by Tyler McRae, of KIN-etics Personal Training. Many on our team have their own personal fitness routine also.

I found this article to be quite interesting and I hope you will to. Check it out…

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search, team transformation, and coaching practices.

How to avoid bad first impressions on LinkedIn

Recently LinkedIn proudly announced to the world that it had reached 200 million profiles. Quite a feat for the worlds number 1 professional social media site. With so many professionals now on LinkedIn it becomes increasingly more important to stand out from the crowd, or at least, avoid some very costly mistakes. After all, your online presence may be the first impression a recruiter has of you, and first impressions count for a great deal. As recruiters, we often get approached by candidates through LinkedIn asking to connect with them. For this to work, you need to have a profile that creates a good first impression of you. The great thing about professional social media sites like LinkedIn is that you have the opportunity to shape that critical first impression. A recent article on Recruiter.com highlighted three ways in which LinkedIn profiles affect professional perception. In particular it mentioned three mistakes people make which can lead to a poor first impression. Those were;

1)      A lack of a profile picture

2)      No cohesive self-branding

3)      An unattractive headline

The lack of a profile picture immediately makes a poor first impression. The article points out that some people may feel that it will ‘help them avoid discrimination of any kind’. However, without a profile picture, it is more difficult for people to develop a connection with you. And in the age of digital media, which so often can appear sterile and in-human, this connection is critical. Equally as bad is a poor quality or unprofessional photograph. See this website for some examples of what we mean.

Also cohesive self-branding is important on your LinkedIn profile. What this means is that your resume, your recommendations and your overview should all roughly be similar. It is not a good idea to have a scattered approach to your LinkedIn profile. Sure you can have had different jobs throughout your career to date, however you should be able to draw out common themes among all of these jobs in order to make your profile appear focused. So if you are a sales professional your profile should be focused on sales, accounting for accountants, and so on. You can make this brand as detailed as you like, right down to the books you are reading being featured on your profile.

The final point (regarding an unattractive headline) is not so clear cut. The article points out that it is not enough to merely have your current job title as your headline, but that you should try to do more to stand out from the competition. However, from a cursory glance at LinkedIn, you will see that the norm is to have your current title as your headline. For those who want to play it safe, using your current job title seems to be acceptable. Once you have a clear brand on your page, making more of an impact with your headline will be easier to do.

A word of caution, remember always that a carefully honed LinkedIn profile will make a good first impression, but it will not get you the job on its own. Networking, Interview technique and Reputation will all still have a part to play. At BluEra, we don’t rely on LinkedIn to find the perfect candidate, why should you rely only on LinkedIn to find the perfect job?

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search, team transformation, and coaching practices.

BluEra keeping fit

This week, BluEra decided to take our weekly bootcamp outside to Olympic Plaza in order to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. While there we were photographed by Gavin John, photographer for the Calgary Sun. The pictures will appear in this weekend’s edition of the Sun but below is a sneak peak.

Tara McCarney using the TRX in Olympic Plaza. Photo by Gavin John/Calgary Sun

Personal trainer Tyler McRae puts Joelle MacDonald (left) and Kim Smith (centre) through their paces during a fitness bootcamp at Olympic Plaza on Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Photo by Gavin John/Calgary Sun

BluEra’s weekly bootcamp is provided by Tyler McRae, BHkin of Kin-etics Personal Training. If you are interested in organizing a bootcamp for your workplace then we highly recommend Tyler. His work-out routines are always varied and challenging.

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search, team transformation, and coaching practices.

When Seeking the Right Job – Honesty IS the Best Policy

Most of us would agree that it is always a good idea to be honest with yourself (and others) in everything that you do or plan to do.  This certainly applies in life and it can be extremely important when it comes to finding the right job.

At BluEra, we believe being clear and honest about your desired or chosen career objective(s) will significantly enhance your chances of success.  Why do we believe this?

At BluEra, all of us involved in recruitment are passionate about helping our clients succeed in the war for top talent.  We regularly receive resumes from individuals who are seeking new career opportunities and we are keen to help them in every way possible.  When a resume arrives, it and the covering letter are reviewed and then placed in an appropriate category(s) in our resume data base.  We review the data base as part of every search project as a complement to our active candidate sourcing activities.  We are always impressed with individuals who present a clear and succinct message about what they are seeking to accomplish.  We are able to quickly activate that person efficiently so that we can input and subsequently access the information when needed.  Unfortunately, we often receive applications from individuals requesting us to keep them under consideration for “anything of interest that comes along” or for a role that we think might be a good fit for them.

Regardless of whether you are submitting a resume or having a job-related discussion with a search firm or a prospective employer, keep in mind that those you are in contact with are generally pretty busy folks.  So, clarity in communicating your intention will be a major help to them and to you in your search .  Stated another way, the more you burden the other party with trying to figure out what you are seeking, the less interest you will likely generate!  And, this clarity will also help you in another important way.  The clearer you are in articulating your career plan and the ideal job you are seeking, the better you will perform in your interviews.  Why?  Because you will be better focused on and confident in presenting your thoughts as they relate to many of the questions that an interviewer will have about your desired career objectives and why the position you are considering is such a good fit for you.

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search, team transformation, and coaching practices.

Lean in or Lean back?

There has recently been a lot of press on ways to work and engage with organizations. Most recently, an article in the Globe and Mail titled “Alternative advice to high-flying women: Lean back” by Margaret Wente had some interesting points. She was discussing the fact that many bright, capable women are not interested in Sheryl Sandberg’s advice in her new book, entitled “Lean in.” In fact, they are doing quite the opposite and leaving the workforce completely so they can raise their family. Given the shortage of qualified people in Alberta, this is not a good trend going forward.

We frequently hear from candidates that they are interested in project based work, versus full-time. Interestingly, this is from both men and women. It seems as though there is a movement from the candidate side towards a more flexible work arrangement – one that would allow people to apply their skills in ways that add immediate value to organizations, and where they can continue to hone their expertise to the organizations advantage.

Do you know of organizations that are already thinking and applying this strategy – hiring on a project basis? Would this be something you would do over full-time employment? Did you read the article in question? What did you think? Also worth considering is how can we ALL live in balance to create a more awake society?  Not leaning in, or back, but rather just being present. Let us know your thoughts. . .

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search, team transformation, and coaching practices.

BluEra +The Community Project

Jeff Koons Magenta Balloon Dog,1994-2000

BluEra and the Community Project have partnered to help evolve and awaken teams to really think strategically about community involvement and community giving.  BluEra has a number of team transformation modules which are all completely customized to what the client requires in the moment.  One of the modules we are pleased to offer is the Community Project, with our Partners, Melissa Pockar and Katie McLean.

The Community Project helps companies align their community investment strategies with their organizational values, vision, mission and skills.  Through the creation of shared value, companies can reinforce corporate culture, employee-engagement, shared experiences, skills development and continuous learning through philanthropic opportunities.  The Community Project can help your organization find effective ways for “building inside” while “sharing outside”.

Join us in helping to build a vibrant and supportive community.

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search and team transformation practices.

Presence Practice: “To be more present, I take a deep circular breath before I start working…”

The view Catherine Bell has when she is working at her home office. Very positive Catherine!

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search and team transformation practices.

What to Expect from BluEra’s Blog

On February 19th BluEra attended the Strategic Capability Network annual Wine and Cheese Event. This years event included a presentation given by David Gardner of TMP Worldwide on how to leverage Social Media to recruit top Talent. Among other topics covered in the presentation was the point that Some companies have jumped on the ‘Social Media Bandwagon’ without really having a strategy in place. It was noted that some companies seem only concerned with increasing the number of followers, connections, friends on their respective sites without ever really seeming to have an end game in place. Here is a related article from a blogger on LinkedIn who laments the lack of identity tools to help him measure the true effectiveness of his blog. Such a tool would help massively with understanding the success of a ‘blog strategy’. However, until one exists, blogs (BluEra’s included) most continue to post and hope that our target audience are seeing, reading and getting value from our regular postings.

The Social Media strategy of BluEra can be explained as follows:

1) Posting our new searches: BluEra uses our blog to advertise our active searches. This is aimed at both active and passive job seekers. If you are interested in hearing about the roles that we search for this will keep you up to date. We always post the roles we are working on to our blog.

2) Research on leadership, team work, growth, entrepreneurship, etc; We come into contact with many business leaders through our daily work. We also like to stay informed with what eminent thought leaders are saying. We use our blog to highlight particular articles or papers we have uncovered which we found interesting and which we hope our followers will find interesting also.

3) Letting you know more about our world (executive search): We also come into contact with job seekers on a daily basis. We blog about topics such as networking, interviewing, getting noticed in a crowded job market and many others. Once again if we come across a particular article we found enlightening we will share it with you through our blog.

4) Letting you know more about us: This is where we allow ourselves to share a little piece of ourselves with our blog followers. We would like you to know a little bit more about each of us. We are not just a voice on the other end of a phone, we are not just our LinkedIn profiles. Either are you. In this section (Presence Practices) we show some of what makes BluEra, well BluEra- the people.

We hope that our blog postings are informative, insightful and sometimes enjoyable for you to read. Much like our company, our social media interactions will continue to grow and change. However we will endeavor to live our BluEra values of  online as well as in person.

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search and team transformation practices.

Perpetual Energy Inc. – Production Manager

Perpetual Energy Inc. is an aggressive, growth oriented, independent energy company producing primarily natural gas with growing volumes of oil and liquids. Perpetual Energy launched on July 1, 2010 through the corporate conversion of Paramount Energy Trust, a royalty trust with a seven-year history as a premium-yielding investment in the royalty trust sector. Their asset base is well suited to the generation of cash flow to be reinvested to sustain production and generate growth from resource-style plays where evolving technologies are unlocking vast new sources of oil and natural gas.

We are seeking a Production Manager to join their growing team. Reporting to the Vice President, Production Operations this position will lead and work within a technical team devoted to the production of natural gas assets throughout a number of Perpetual Energy’s key development areas.

Please click here for more information.

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search and team transformation practices.

Edleun – Director of Operations, Western Region – COMPLETED

Our client, Edleun Group Inc. is committed to changing the landscape of child care in Canada. Fully dedicated to providing Canadian parents with an integrated approach to early learning and care, Edleun strives to offer children with the best curriculum, technology, socialization, nutrition and extra-curricular programs available.

Edleun has responded to a demand for quality child care with the addition of approximately 5,000 licensed child care spaces across three provinces (Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario). This role offers a challenging and rewarding opportunity to make a meaningful difference for families and children across Western Canada. We are seeking someone with strong business acumen, who is knowledgeable and passionate about early childhood development, to oversee the operations of Edleun’s Western Canadian child care centres.

Click here to view the full profile.

BluEra builds evolved and awakened teams through executive search, team transformation, and coaching practices.