Blog
Avoid These 3 Common Mistakes Using AI
Check out this article review of Dawn's podcast interviewing John Crossman. Although business leaders continually invest in developing employees' leadership skills, you too - the job seeker/employee - can take action to build strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. What is one step you could take today (taking on a new role at work, attending a training, volunteering in the community, etc.) to boost your leadership potential?
Become a Competitive Candidate and Employee through Developing Your Leadership Potential
Check out this article review of Dawn's podcast interviewing John Crossman. Although business leaders continually invest in developing employees' leadership skills, you too - the job seeker/employee - can take action to build strong communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. What is one step you could take today (taking on a new role at work, attending a training, volunteering in the community, etc.) to boost your leadership potential?
Remote Work or RTO: Pros and Cons
Has your team been remote or partially remote since the pandemic? Is leadership creating a return to office (RTO) policy? How can you balance employees’ desire for work-life balance with the collaboration that happens when you get experts in the same room together?
A Resume Builders survey in 2023 found that 90% of companies with physical locations will require an RTO policy by the end of the year 2024 (as cited in Shiavo, 2024). To help you prepare policies and vision for your organization, consider some of the pros and cons of remote work versus a full RTO.
Are Job Seekers Getting Choosier? Perspectives from Dawn and Pamela Nabors, CEO of Career Source
Our Business Writing Intern Victoria Carman wrote a piece about Episode 3, “Local Businesses and How Career Source Helps,” on the Hiring Happy Humans podcast. Victoria discusses key insights from this conversation about the priorities of job seekers and the changing ways they are approaching the interview process. You can listen to the full episode on Spotify here.
In the third episode of the Hiring Happy Humans podcast, Dawn Sipley speaks with CEO Pamela Nabors. They speak about the job market and their predictions of it when it comes to the future of hiring. One of the points that they bring up (Timestamp 16:45) is the fact that people searching in the job market are becoming “pickier” with the jobs that they choose. They both agree on the idea of there being more options, so people ask more in depth questions about the job that they are thinking of applying for. They ask about the environment that they could be working in and the benefits that they could get, not just the location and the pay. I believe that these changing priorities are allowing both employers and employees to be happier in their workplace environments.
Artificial Intelligence in Businesses
This piece was written by Victoria Carman, a Business Writing Intern with Sipley the Best during Spring 2024. Victoria shares insights on the strengths and weaknesses of using generative AI as a job seeker.
In school, students are taught to not use artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT, OpenAI, or Snapchat AI to do their work. Schools believe that this takes away the credibility of the learners, because they aren’t doing the work themselves. To solve the problem of cheating, most schools have taken to banning the use of AI for any assignments. I don’t agree with this supposed “solution”. Artificial intelligence can be used for many different things, especially in the world of business. Students need to be taught how to use this valuable resource, given that there is a high chance it will help them in the future.
Networking Advice from an Octopus-Loving Introvert
I’ve been responsible for business development for over 15 years now; and many in my community would guess me to be an extrovert. I even thought the same about myself for a time, until I learned that it’s not how well we perform in public spaces, but what re-energizes us.
Unlocking Potential: 5 Tips to Embrace Neurodiversity in Your Workplace
This piece was written by Alexis Wajda, an HR Intern with Sipley the Best during Spring 2024. Alexis is a current undergraduate at UCF majoring in Business Administration, minoring in Sociology, with a certificate in Human Resources.
Picture This: A workplace where creativity flows, problem-solving takes unexpected twists, and every day feels like a journey through the quirkiest corners of the human mind. Welcome to the neurodiverse workplace!
What Job Seekers Should Keep Their Eyes Peeled For
This is Zoe Fulgencio’s second article written during her Spring 2024 Business Writing Internship with Sipley the Best. Zoe is a student at Crooms Academy who hopes to study graphic design in college and work in the field as an in-house graphic designer.
Are you a job seeker looking for a line of work that will jumpstart your career? The best way to hunt for a job is to first do your research and educate yourself on the company you are interested in applying to. A company’s position may seem like the best thing in the world from the outside; however, do not get enticed too quickly. When you look up the perks and pay offered, you may find the advertisements misleading. Don’t be fooled by the marketing schemes!
Using AI in Your Job Search: Create Targeted Applications Using Generative AI
We asked Gemini (Google’s AI) to write us a strange professional statement for a resume. Here’s what it gave us!
“I am a highly motivated self-driving car with 10+ years of experience navigating complex road networks and adhering to traffic regulations. Equipped with cutting-edge AI technology and advanced sensor capabilities, I possess exceptional skills in obstacle detection, route optimization, and passenger safety. I am a fast learner, constantly improving my algorithms through real-time data analysis. Looking to join a forward-thinking company at the forefront of autonomous transportation.”
This is great if you’re a self-driving car. Which, we assume you are not.
Five Tips for Creating an Internship Program
What do you think of when you hear the word “intern”? Do you imagine a person who just gets the boss their daily double shot expresso, oat milk, no whipped cream? Or maybe you’ve heard the controversy among paid vs. unpaid internships and get nervous about internships generally.
We’ve worked with six interns from high schools as well as colleges in the past year at Sipley the Best. We’d like to pass on five tips - points to consider - if you’re considering creating an intern program.
AI in HR: Keeping the “Human” in Human Resources
With the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the world feels like a completely new landscape. AI-generated text, poetry, music, art, video, characters, and chats abound. AI is rapidly changing the way we work, play, and live. And while it’s not new (AI assistants like Siri and Alexa; algorithmic suggestions; and even navigation apps are all well-accepted uses of AI), the rapid changes as AI grows can feel unsettling.
Your Compensation Package: Keeping It Legal, Fair, and Competitive.
Dawn presented recently with SCORE Jacksonville on fair compensation and pay. Check out an overview below! Is Your Pay Competitive? What is competitive varies by industry (for-profit, non-profit, public), needed skills and qualifications, supply in the labor market, and location. Competitive pay varies greatly across the country!
Embracing Appealing Recruitment Strategies for Generation Z
This piece was written by Zoe Fulgencio, who is interning with Sipley the Best during the Spring 2024 semester. Zoe Fulgencio is a student at Crooms Academy completing a Business Writing Internship with Sipley the Best. She hopes to major in graphic design at the University of Central Florida and get a job in digital design after completing her college years in this field of study.
Seven Tips to Sound Your Best When You Answer the Phone!
You only get one chance to make a first impression. If you’re anxiously waiting for a callback for jobs you have applied for, take the time to practice your phone etiquette skills with these tips.
Unconventional Job Search Strategies
Are you sick and tired of applying on Indeed and hearing absolutely nothing back from the employer? Tired of constantly seeing “urgently hiring” tags while getting ghosted in the application process?
First of all, we’re sending you a pat on the back and a hug. We know how discouraging it is to feel like your qualifications aren’t good enough. That you haven’t done enough. That you don’t have enough experience to be accepted into new ones.
But, to find a job, sometimes you can’t “just keep swimming.” The school of other fishes might be applying to common job boards - Indeed, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter - so if you want to stand out and get noticed, you need to work differently - not harder.
If typical search strategies aren’t working for you, try some of these.
Are You Ready To Move?
Companies merge and downsize. Jobs get outsourced. Customers quit buying, and the need for jobs evaporates. None of us have 100% certainty that our job of today will be in demand tomorrow. Just this week, Snapchat announced they are laying off 10% of their global market of employees, supposedly to encourage more in-office collaboration. This puts 500 people out of a job (Cohen, 2024).
We don’t want to scare you, but we do want you to know how to stay nimble in your career so you aren’t scrambling if you also find yourself needing to obtain new employment. Being job-ready is much more than keeping your resume updated, though.
Five Pitfalls to Avoid in the Interview Room
We’ve seen hundreds of interviews go down in our HR history: some good, some bad, and many in-between. The interview is one of the first impressions you make on a potential hire. What can you do to entice the best candidates and prevent losing them to another employer’s offer? Check out these five tips to have an amazing interview.