Blog Archives

How 100 smart women discovered six unexpected benefits from an unlikely escape.

Posted on August 14, 2018 by Chris Toussaint — No Comments ↓

Ella Stephenson grew up playing netball, but had always loved footy. So in 2016 when the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) announced they were launching a women’s competition, she was keen to get involved. “My older brothers had played footy with Monash Blues and I was studying at Monash University,” Stephenson says. “A friend from Uni was already involved, and she got me down to the club.”

After performing well in the grading games, Monash Blues Football Club (MBFC) were placed in the second tier of the women’s competition. Although they didn’t win many games in 2017, strong interest in the team generated registrations from 100 female University-based players, which has seen the club expand to two women’s teams in 2018. The Women’s Firsts team had a great season this year, which saw them finish in the preliminary finals last weekend.

As Captain of the Firsts, Ella has firsthand experience of the benefits that joining a football club like the Monash Blues offers, both on and off the field. It’s universally acknowledged that playing a team sport like football is so much more than running around an oval and kicking a ball.

Here are the top six reasons to join a football team or any other sporting team:

  1. Health and exercise – committing to train two times a week and play on the weekend means you’ve ticked off your weekly exercise schedule.
  2. Teamwork – nothing prepares you for working collaboratively like playing a team sport.
  3. Networks and mentors – when you’re a student you’ll meet all kinds of people and probably make new friends, but a network of likeminded people who you can connect with and who can mentor you as your enter your professional life is an unexpected benefit.
  4. Support – Ella says that over the last two years MBFC has helped the players overcome some tough physical and mental challenges, such as injuries and the loss of parents.
  5. Lasting friendships – we’re tested a lot through life, so the friendships established from playing together at a club are often an unexpected bonus.
  6. Stress Release – there’s nothing like running off steam, living totally in the moment and falling into bed exhausted after a tough game to make you feel on top of the world.

MBFC has a fantastic alumni network, with many current players and past players assisting younger players in entering the workforce. Whether it be through industry connections, helping with resumes and cover letters or applying for jobs, there are so many people willing to help. Ella says that’s one of the reasons that makes the Monash Blues such a great club. “I was in the final year of my course last year and had some great support from club personnel in helping me find a job,” she recalls. “I only knew one girl and a couple of the boys involved at the club before I joined and have since met lots of new people and made lasting friendships. I think sport also offers students a great opportunity to develop their teamwork, leadership and public speaking skills.”

The players juggle study commitments with training twice per week, games on Saturday, as well as casual or in some cases, full-time work. During the six week mid-semester break, a number of students from regional Victoria return home, which can severely impact the team. Over this period many players drive great distances to support the club and ensure they don’t miss a game.

Coach Ian Mills agrees: “Sport is an outstanding release from the pressures of study and work. The old saying ‘Healthy body, healthy mind’ holds true as far as I’m concerned. There are times after a long day at work when it’s hard to drag yourself off to training, but I always leave reinvigorated by the girls, as they are so keen to learn and improve.”

These young women have found a way to escape, exercise, learn the value of teamwork and develop a network to support each other through university, the workforce and beyond.

 

Slade Group and the Interchange Bench are proud sponsors of the Monash Blues, a football club that fields men’s and women’s teams of current and past students. If your organisation is looking for graduates or can support university students with work placements, please get in touch with us.

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Posted in The world @work

Become a Dementia Friend like us and make a positive difference

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Geoff Slade — No Comments ↓

Article image: Become a Dementia Friend like usWe all want to make a positive difference at work, home and in the community.

Being part of a supportive and compassionate workplace can make a positive difference and can influence our society. One way is to increase our awareness of other people’s lives and their challenges.

An estimated 425,000 Australians are living with dementia. People with dementia can find it challenging to participate actively in the community, often due, in part, to a lack of knowledge or understanding by the community about their condition.

In fact, a recent survey by Dementia Australia found people living with dementia and carers reported experiencing embarrassing situations, feel strongly disconnected, feel less competent and sometimes feel useless.

Thanks to our friends at Dementia Australia, they’ve created a program – the Dementia Friends program – that aims to transform the way we think, act and talk about dementia.

Registering to become a Dementia Friend means that you can increase your understanding of dementia. Every day, you can make a difference to someone living with dementia or make a difference to the carers and families of those people living with dementia.

When registering to become part of the Dementia Friends program, participants can utilise a free online learning tool, through which they can increase their understanding of dementia, and be empowered to do small, everyday things that can make a big difference to a person living with dementia.

What can your organisation do to be dementia-friendly?

  • Offer accessible services, including having staff who understand dementia and know how to communicate effectively with people who have dementia
  • For people with younger onset dementia, provide employees with the option of being supported to stay at work
  • Allow time away from the workplace to participate in volunteering opportunities to assist people with dementia
  • Sign up to become a dementia friendly organisation

Look for the signs. Allow extra time for inclusion in a conversation, or offer assistance if someone appears disoriented or confused. It will make all the difference. Empower someone living with dementia and make them feel safe, accepted and involved.

Become a Dementia Friend today. Visit dementiafriendly.org.au and start making a difference.

 

 

Photo left to right: Aged Care Minister The Hon. Ken Wyatt AM MP, Dementia Australia Ambassador Jessica Origliasso (The Veronicas), Dementia Australia CEO Maree McCabe, Dementia Australia Ambassador Lisa Origliasso (The Veronicas) and Dementia Australia Ambassador Ita Buttrose

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Posted in The world @work

Six ways to improve your workplace confidence

Posted on July 5, 2018 by Amanda Robar — No Comments ↓

The word confidence has been on the forefront of my mind lately. Whether you are conscious of if it or not, confidence is an incredibly powerful feeling/belief that significantly impacts the way you carry yourself throughout life. Working in recruitment, confidence plays a vital role in how successful I am as a Consultant. I am lucky enough to work within an incredibly supportive team at Slade Group, who have given me the space to develop my confidence so I can perform at my highest potential.

Here are six ways to immensely improve your confidence in the workplace:

  1. Positive self-talk is key! Your thought process will dictate the way you act and therefore determine how others will treat you. If you practice positively reframing negative thoughts on a daily basis, you will eventually reprogram you thoughts to be more positive.
  1. Stop caring so much about what others think. It is human nature to desire validation from others, however it is not always required to succeed. When your headspace is not preoccupied stressing about the judgement of others, you have more room to channel your energy in productive ways.
  1. Competency = Confidence, it’s a simple equation. As a Recruitment Consultant, it is important that I maintain a well-rounded knowledge so I can make educated decisions and be a valid source of information for my candidates and clients. Put the time and effort into understanding what is going on around you! Remember to ask the right questions, pick up the Financial Review, and take notice of politics!
  1. Take care of yourself. There are many benefits involved when living a healthy life, including an increase in your confidence! Maslow made a timeless point, so it is no coincidence we constantly hear about “healthy eating, sleep patterns and exercise”. I certainly perform better at work when I make a healthy dinner and stick to my bedtime.
  1. Practice your Power Poses. Stand with your feet apart and hands on hips, pretend you are a super hero and feel the confidence surge throughout your entire body. Now I know this sounds silly but it works. Oprah does it… need I say more?
  1. Be authentic. Take the pressure off, don’t feel like you need to act a certain way. People who accept who they are, happen to be the most confident.

I hope reading this article gave you a big CONFIDENCE BOOST!

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Posted in Slade Business Support, The world @work

An interview with Business Essentials

Posted on June 15, 2018 by Chris Toussaint — No Comments ↓

Along with Michael Schildberger, the former ABC anchor in the 774 morning time slot, now occupied by John Fayne, Geoff Slade was a founder of the popular Business Essentials in 1984, the audio magazine which plays a role as virtual business mentor to 1000s of Australian business leaders and owners. Business Essentials recently interviewed Geoff about the truths he’s learned in business along the way. In this audio file you’ll hear about his ups, downs and lucky moments,  the rewards and challenges of business life, including the supremely important role of trust and long term meaningful relationships. He takes Heather Dawson back to the early days. It was 1967, he was 21 years old and had just opened the doors to his first employment agency. What did it look like?

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Posted in The world @work

A case of a Blinding Flash of the Obvious

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Laurie Serafini — No Comments ↓

Only last Saturday, I was settling in to read the weekend paper while sipping a long black at my local cafe, when I was again reminded of the world famous BFO principle… that’s a case of the Blinding Flash of the Obvious!

I was reading Greg Callaghan’s entertaining piece in The Saturday Age #GoodWeekend Magazine where he interviewed Sydney psychologist Dr Tim Sharp, an adjunct professor at both UTS and RMIT University, about “the importance of small, daily face-to-face interactions”.

What a timely reminder. These exchanges contribute to people’s overall wellbeing, longevity, and even improve mental health.

Here in the Southern Hemisphere, as we bunker down for what is predicted to be a long  winter with endemic colds and flu, it’s been scientifically proven we can actually draw a lot of energy – and in fact warmth, by reaching out to others. Getting out of your headspace and talking to friends, family, colleagues or even strangers on the street, releases endorphins – your wellness hormone, which can actually be good for you.

Dr Sharp, who is also the founder of the Happiness Institute in Sydney, went on to say that, “Brief, micro interactions on a daily basis can have amazing benefits, leading to even reduced rates of depression.” Who would have thought?

While this may have been going on since Moses walked the Earth, I challenge you this week have a chat and reach out to someone new. Whether it’s at your next business meeting, a job interview, the train station, on the street corner or at your local… You can tell them I sent you!

Social media doesn’t count. No Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or texting… You gotta go live.

Experts call it positive wellbeing. Others may say it’s a BFO. Whatever, I think it’s fantastic and those little interactions really work. Everyone’s a winner, if you’re up for it. Just use your judgement when approaching others, keep it safe.

Let me know what happens when you have a ‘small talk’ with someone new.

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Posted in Slade Executive

My three biggest career regrets

Posted on May 23, 2018 by Sophie Pusz — No Comments ↓

If you were to look at most people’s career trajectory, it generally rises over time, but zoom in a little and you’ll probably see some dips or a drop along the way. The upside to those dips is that a set-back in life can be a fantastic opportunity for learning and growth. In hindsight, you may even come to see that the valuable learning opportunities provided by the drop gave you the tools you needed to achieve something amazing, or the confidence to try something out of the box that really paid off.

Here are my three biggest career regrets to date, and the lessons I learnt from each of them.

  1. Look after yourself. I turned down a phone interview for an incredible sounding job with an arts organisation in Hobart because I didn’t think I could sneak out of work for the call. It was in my early days in the workforce and I just didn’t understand that you need to look after yourself when job hunting is at play. Of course I always advocate leaving on good terms when you do move on, but I didn’t realise in that scenario that I needed be less passive if I was ever going to get another job.

Lesson: Nobody is going to look out for you in the same way that you will look out for yourself. You need to be your strongest advocate and do whatever is in your power to make things happen. 

  1. Never under-prepare for interviews. I have done this on a couple of occasions, by underestimating the advantage of interview preparation in helping you to successfully win a role. I went in full of boundless enthusiasm and thought that would carry me through to success (and, to be fair, that has often been enough). I hadn’t really done any research on the role or the company, and I certainly hadn’t done any preparation in terms of practising typical interview questions, in order to get a feel for what my key strengths were and why I thought I would be a good fit for the role.

Lesson: You can never be over prepared. You won’t know exactly which questions you’ll be asked in an interview, but if you have spent some time contemplating the proffered role from several different angles, and how it may relate to your skills and experience, then you’ll be well placed to answer any questions on the fly that you hadn’t expected.

  1. Think carefully before turning down a job. I had just started university and in my search for work, I submitted my resume to a nearby chocolate factory (yes, really) because I had heard from a friend that if you worked there you could eat as much chocolate as you wanted. They called me up, but I had too many contact hours at uni, so I wasn’t able to take the job. It was almost twenty years ago, but to be honest, I am still heartbroken over it!

Lesson: If you have a dream/goal/vision, then chase it with every particle of your body. Perhaps I could have gone part-time, or considered dropping out of uni altogether. In any case I should have done WHATEVER it took to get that job and fulfil my dream to eat all the chocolate I wanted.

What are some of your career regrets? What lessons have you learned?

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Posted in The Interchange Bench

When Temp is the Word: 5 points for a positive experience

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Ligier Caddy — No Comments ↓

Temp.

I often hear the word uttered in a mildly objectionable tone – and I get it, there’s some horror stories out there… I’ve heard plenty about snaky recruiters slithering their way through businesses, tarnishing the profession one careless placement at a time. They’ve done a great job of making the temporary contracting process completely exasperating for businesses and candidates alike.

Hiring a temporary resource should never be a case of simply finding someone with a pulse to fill a chair and hoping for the best. Thankfully, most of us aren’t like that. As a recruiter who cares about the talented people and the organisations I represent, let me tell you our Temps can save your butt in times of need.

Here are five things to look for when it comes to temporary recruitment to ensure it’s a positive and productive experience:

  1. Find a fantastic recruitment business partner. It’s like any relationship, if your significant other/life partner/hairdresser doesn’t take the time to get to know you, understand you and respond to your needs, you wouldn’t stick around, right? (Hair flick and walk away). Your relationship with your recruiter should be no different. So do your homework, find a provider who actually listens to you, asks the relevant questions, and understands your business and your people.
  2. Trust is everything, so be honest with your recruiter. Talk about your company culture (the real and ideal). Be upfront about your management style. Let them know the reasons behind recent staff turnover or changes to the team. A major dislike of PowerPoint? We understand, the more information the better! With this knowledge we can find a candidate with the relevant skills and experience required for the job, as well as someone who shares your company values.
  3. Go steady. Once you find a great recruiter, don’t be a commitment-phobe. Partnering with a single agency will streamline your recruitment process. Repeating your brief to multiple providers is time consuming. It’s also inefficient when you receive duplicate candidate resumes. So, put your time into making your business relationship work with someone who works well with you. Not only will you receive a more tailored approach from your recruiter, you will enable them to focus on your organisation.
  4. Keep it real. Sometimes we just have to face the facts and as much as we would all love to find the perfect unicorn/human hybrid temporary resource, available to commence tomorrow on a part time basis with relevant industry experience, with the ability to play the ukulele and work their way around Adobe Photoshop at an advanced level, unfortunately this may not always be possible. So, be open to options, let your recruiter come up with short-term and long term solutions to help fill your current gaps.
  5. Temps are people We take pride in our flexible, adaptable and switched-on temporary and contract talent. Please remember to treat them with the same respect as your permanent employees; we want them to feel comfortable in your work environment. And you never know, we often place permanent employees through a temp assignment!

There is no greater feeling in this role than matching a temporary candidate with a workplace, finding out that they are absolutely nailing it and sitting back like a proud parent, and watching their working relationship blossom.

Find a recruitment partner that you trust and communicate with them. Be straight with them and don’t be afraid to work together to achieve a resourcing solution that really works for you – not just a person with a pulse!

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Posted in The Interchange Bench, The world @work

‘Bitty Learning’ overtakes MBAs as the new Career Cache.

Posted on May 4, 2018 by Anita Ziemer — No Comments ↓

Why would The Wall Street Journal report that MBA applications across the world are down three years running? Isn’t an MBA a sure ticket to a high paying and interesting career?

At Slade Group we’re very interested in labour market trends and skills matches, but it’s been a long time since we’ve heard the phrase ‘an MBA would be highly desirable’ as a criteria for hiring.

There seem to be three indicators for the decline in the attraction of MBAs:

  1. Follow the money
  2. Currency of skills
  3. ‘Value Added Ratio’

Follow the money: The money’s left Wall Street, Collins St, Pitt St etc and is headed for wherever the Technology sector lives. While MBAs are useful in the tech sector, software engineers, mathematicians, systems engineers, machine learning skills are in more demand.

Currency of skills: Big jobs data tells a rich global story. At the recent Nous Group forum, Burning Glass Technologies’ Matthew Sigelman, joined the data dots to build the picture for skills, education and employment.

Skills are the unit of currency and they’re on the move. Traditional degrees can now carry less weight than relevant skills based learning like Lean Six Sigma or PMP Certification.

The big question raised at the Nous forum was how do we, as individuals, employers and governments reskill more often, and take charge of our future? Read more here.

Value Added Ratio: MBAs cost a great deal so when the ‘added value ratio’ doesn’t add up for someone who failed or nailed their GMAT, the attraction to an MBA course also declines. In lockstep, huge hikes in course costs have matched flat lining and declining salaries for MBA graduates. From 4:1 first year salary to course cost to a 1.8:1 ratio, the MBA flavor has soured.

The fact is that an MBA can now be worth less than the sum of its bitty parts.  It all trends towards upskilling for in-demand expertise throughout our careers as a pathway for growth and success. In response universities are finally starting to unbundle their degrees and allow for macro and micro learning programmes.

We’re in the middle of interesting times!

What is your experience in your world of learning @work?

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