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It used to be that you would walk into an interview knowing that there were four or five questions that you could expect to have asked of you. Then, you could effectively plan ahead for how you were going to answer them. Those included:

Tell me about yourself and your experience.

What is your greatest accomplishment?

Are you a team player?

What is your greatest weakness?

What makes you best for this position?

But this isn’t necessarily so any more. The new war for talent continues to take shape with the mass exodus of Baby Boomers from the workforce, and interviewers are finding it necessary to get creative with their interview skills in order to hire the right person-not only for the specific task or position, but also for their company. Behavioral interviewing is one such tactic that is helping organizations ensure they can find an individual with the right cultural fit, morals/ethics, well-roundedness, leadership, AND the ability to accomplish the tasks at hand. In a nut shell, it is all about identifying the key competencies in the candidate through questions that dig deeper by asking he/she to summarize instances when he/she employed specific competencies in his/her professional career. Such questions begin with, “Tell me a time that…” or “Explain a situation in which you…” Although they can be harder to predict than those listed above, there are still ways in which a candidate can effectively prepare. The easiest way is to make sure that there is a firm understanding of the job description and required competencies needed to qualify for the position. Then, using that knowledge, you can formulate a list of the possible areas that an employer might delve into using behavioral questions. For example, if you are interviewing for the position of marketing director, areas of competency can logically be deduced to: leadership, communication, dealing with different types of employees, and creativity.

Areas of Interest

Below is a list of eight possible areas of interest to employers and a related behavioral question for each.

Problem Solving Skills

-”Tell me about a situation where you faced a particularly tough challenge, how you overcame that challenge, and the outcome.”

Leadership Challenges

-”Recount a time when you had to deal with a difficult employee. What tactics did you use and what became of that employee?”

Communication

-”Describe your personal communication style using an example of how you have dealt with peers/subordinates in your last position.”

Organization and coordination

-”Tell me about a time when you had a client change a due date on a project and you had to rush to complete it. How did it make you feel/how did you react?”

Assertiveness

-”Describe a situation in which you foresaw a potential opportunity and took advantage of it upfront. Or one in which you used that opportunity to create an action or strategic plan for the team which served as betterment to the organization.”

Creativity

-”Can you tell me about a time when you went outside of the box to solve a problem or meet a client’s needs in which the situation required you to be creative with your solution?”

Goal Orientation

-”Tell me about your goals for the next five years. Include where you see yourself and how you expect to achieve those goals.”

Flexibility

-”Was there ever a situation in which you were far into a project and there were factors that required you to change direction and take another approach? Was it easy for you to adapt and make the necessary changes?”

Conclusion

The very best thing you can do is think broad and then narrow down your scope to job-specific components. By planning in this manner, you can effectively prepare yourself for a winning interview and help eliminate the chances of being caught off-guard.

Orrick Nepomuceno, CPC is author of Hitchhiker In The Corner Office: Avoiding The Top-10 Potholes So Your Employees Don’t Hit The Road (http://hitchhikerinthecorneroffice.com). He manages his own consulting practice, KAON Consulting, Inc. - http://www.kaonconsultinginc.com - where he consults C-Level executives with Human Capital issues. Orrick understands the importance of helping companies build great teams in today’s changing marketplace.

Tips on having a positive job interview

You’ve just graduated. You’ve just lost your job. You’re sick of your current job and just need a change.

The next move for you is the job interview. And if you haven’t done one in a while or ever you’ll need an interview makeover.

Your interview “style” includes everything from the way your wear your hair and your cell phone ring tone to whether you smell like cigarette smoke and your attitude.

And, please, be nice to the receptionist.

“When you go to an interview, your appearance makes the first impression. But I’d say that’s only good for 10 seconds until you open your mouth,” says Meg Montford, a Kansas City executive career coach. “Then, it’s all about attitude. Appearance gets you through the door, but the attitude determines how long you sit in the chair.”

The face-off

The interviewer expects a certain level of polish in your appearance.

“I think that ‘professional looking’ includes the hair, the makeup, the accessories. They all work together to create the professional image,” says Carolina Coleman, master stylist and owner of Eclektica Salon in Briarcliff Village.

Start with your hair.

“The person’s face is one of the first things that someone notices. The right hair can make you look desirable for the job,” Coleman says. “The hair not only frames the face, it transforms it.”

Women with long hair should pull it back into a chignon or low ponytail, she says. Avoid the prom up-do or any style that looks too childish.

For women getting an entirely new style, do it at least two weeks before the interview, Coleman says. That will give you enough time to get comfortable styling it and re-creating it the way the stylist did in the salon.

Coleman’s hair advice for men: “It should be neat and tidy unless you are working in the film industry in California. When men’s hair is neat and tidy it denotes confidence and cleanliness.”

Unless you’re interviewing for a job in a highly creative, artistic arena, keep hair color on the conservative side as well.

“It’s the same as your makeup,” Coleman says. “Too much looks harsh, and no makeup looks like you’re lazy or too tired.”

If you’re going to have your eyebrows waxed or plucked not a bad idea to banish the unibrow before a big interview do it at least a week before to avoid unsightly redness, she says.

What not to wear

Every human-resources director and career counselor will tell you the same thing: Dress for the job one level above the one you’re interviewing for.

In other words, dress up, even if you’re the only one in the room who is.

No need to spend a lot of money. Think Target and TJ Maxx. What you wear on your own time is your business, but…

“If you’re looking for a job where those things are very important maybe in a bank or a large insurance office or law office where everyone is dressing more conservatively that’s the way you need to dress. That’s the way you need to act,” says Melanie Bowman, student employment services coordinator for Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley. “I may wear jeans and shorts in the summer, but I wouldn’t wear that to work. So, if you’re looking for a job in the adult job world, then you have to play the game.

“If those are areas you don’t think you can negotiate on, then you probably need to look at the types of jobs that are more appropriate for you.”

If you feel the over 50 + Age Bias has shut the job door for you, you are probably correct. To knock down this barrier take some steps to level the playing field. Don’t waste time being mad - do something powerful!

The facts are that younger workers have a 40 percent better chance of being called in for interviews than someone over 50. Almost everyone over 40 senses that age bias affects their career. You can’t take it personally as it is a given. Here is how to knock down the 50 + Age Bias door:

Get Ready:

“Get a realistic view of your current situation, the exact facts, and get rid of blaming yourself or others.

“Master a positive story by having your job coach listen to your “story” until all anger or blame is gone. Make sure “no anger” shows when you are in phone or one-on- one interviews. Your contacts will only refer you to possible connections when they feel comfortable, because you don’t show anger and blame. Mock interviews conducted by your job coach or advisor, are and excellent way to better results.

Take Action:

Professional marketers attack a problem immediately when a shift or radical change occurs, and so should you. So, now that you have a clear view, the blame is gone and you are no longer angry, you can plunge ahead ready to knock down the 50 + Age Bias door with these:

“Personality Assessments - It is not surprising that experienced professionals value insights they receive with formal assessments. “Myers Briggs” and “Campbell” are names you would recognize, but this is a highly specialized field with many options. A good coach can recommend and plan specific assessments along with a detailed debriefing after you complete the assessment.

“SWOT Analysis - The one page SWOT analysis with your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats staring you in the face is always powerful. It blatantly says what needs to be said about you as a product, and is very effective in helping you work around limitations. Yes, knocking down the door may mean using your strengths and avoiding weaknesses or threats.

“Revamp You - Think about yourself as a product then look at upgrading based on the market. The challenge faced in the automobile industry is a good example. You probably need a tough evaluation and it might be painful. Get it from your job coach or advisor, and then look at some possibilities such as new activities, technology, presentation and appearance.

The twist here is you tackled your 50 + Age Bias marketing problem by looking at yourself in an unbiased way. The “Personality Assessments,” “SWOT Analysis” and “Revamp You” force a tough reality check. In order to knock down the 50 + Age Bias door you have to be truthful and very realistic. It is a tough assignment for most professionals, for many nothing will be as tough, at any level in any industry.

Knock Down the 50 + Age Bias Door:

Taking these steps and you will be a little less like Rodney Dangerfield when he said “I can’t get no respect.” Get respect, as now you are ready to deal with 50 + Age Bias. That’s it … go knock down that 50 + Age Bias door!

Charles Moldenhauer, Executive Job Coach and author, can provide additional details at any stage in your career. Take advantage of a valuable FREE introduction: http://www.executivejobcoachMonthly seminars are also given by Charles so please consider attending them for additional background and cutting edge insights.

Ask the job coach, Charles Moldenhauer, via email at: executivejobcoach@gmail.com

Do you follow any tailor-made process to get that desired job interview call within a short span of time? Are you sure that the process, which you follow, will fetch you the desired results you have expected? If not, then how to refine your resume process? How you can cutout the interview call waiting-period? If you are confused regarding the resume process, then read this article to clear your confusion and to improve your job prospects.

Every job needs a tailor-made resume; and every resume needs an efficient presentation to get it picked up at the first glance. To achieve this, you need to follow a time-tested process, which gives not only fabulous results but also a cutting-edge advantage to you. Read the following main points to know and gain more about the resume preparing process:

1. Design your resume with all the requirements of the target job

2. Layout your resume in an aesthetic way

3. Present both chronological and functional details in detailed fashion

4. Place small JPEG/GIF images of your certifications in the header of your resume so that they will appear on each page

5. Present all your experience in a single line and place it in the resume header. For example: Software Tester with 4 years of Testing experience, etc.

6. Start your resume with an Objective, Experience under different domains, Job chronological as well as functional details, List of Certifications, List of Trainings undergone, List of Awards/Rewards, List of Publications, etc, and finally, a decent Cover Letter.

7. While writing skills, present them in such a way that they match with the target job’s required skills. This is very essential because most of the employers want to hire people who have requisite skills along with experience.

8. Mention your talents in various fields; if possible, also list out the certifications you have. This is essential as it helps the employer to understand your personality

9. Once your resume is ready and before you are ready to mail the resume to the employer, always call the employer, introduce yourself and check about the job details; follow this process religiously unless the employer requests “no phone calls”

10. Always maintain the list of employers to whom you have sent the resume for further follow-up

In summary, the preceding resume process gives you detailed steps on how to get a job interview as soon as possible. Following the same process will definitely lead you to the interview stage within a short span of time.

Prepare for these top interview questions. Use the interview answer guidelines to make sure that your interview responses are in line with what the interviewer is looking for.

Why do you want this job?

Basically the interviewer is asking “Why are you here?” The purpose of this interview question is to make sure that you are looking for the same job that the employer is trying to fill. It is exploring your passion for this business and this work. Why are you interested in this type of work? Provide examples of specific aspects of the work that interest and excite you. Convince the interviewer that you are looking for exactly the type of work that this position is offering. Rephrase in an enthusiastic and positive way the things you have learned about the job from the interviewer, the recruiter or the job posting and your background research. Highlight how your skills and abilities fit in with these job requirements. Ask yourself before the interview “Why do I want to get this job?” and prepare to convince the interviewer of your motivation and passion. Simply repeating your resume details is not convincing. Prepare a compelling job interview answer that leaves the interviewer in no doubt about your enthusiasm for this specific job and company.

Tell me about yourself

The interviewer is trying to find out if you will fit in with the rest of the team and the company. This job interview question also explores what motivates you and whether it is consistent with the position and company. Again avoid just repeating what you have written on your resume. What makes you uniquely qualified to do this job? Try to describe yourself objectively focusing on your key skills and abilities that will be of value in this job. Describe your character as it relates to the inherent job requirements. If you are not sure of what behaviors are required in the position you can use general work-related adjectives such as diligent, persevering, hard working, enthusiastic. Always keep in mind that your response to top interview questions like this should highlight how your skills, abilities, knowledge and character relate to the job and company profile.

What are your strengths?

One of the most common top interview questions! Describe three or four strengths that highlight why you are the right candidate for the job. Avoid over-used terms and generalizations such as “peoples-person” but rather be specific about your strength and provide hard evidence of it. For example you could state that your strengths are your interpersonal skills and your ability to persuade people. Back this up by describing how these strengths have translated into strong sales or winning customers over. Describe how these strengths could be put to good use in the position you are interviewing for.

What are your weaknesses?

With this interview question the interviewer is evaluating your self awareness and insight rather than your actual weaknesses. Acknowledging a weakness is seen as a sign of maturity and wisdom. Refer to a valid and sincere weakness but turn it into a positive by describing it as an area for development. In your answer detail the steps you have taken to try and improve. Focus on how you have some limitations just like everyone else but you are aware of these and work constantly to improve on them to become a better and more effective employee.

Where do you want to be in five years?

The interviewer is looking for a match of expectations between your hopes and goals and what the job and company can offer you. Referring to goals and aspirations unrelated to the work you are applying for demonstrates a lack of interest in the current position and sends up red flags for the interviewer. It is best to avoid mentioning specific job titles and specific time frames. Refer in a general way to what you enjoy, the strengths you have that you would like to develop, what you hope to learn from your work experience, realistic challenges and opportunities you expect in your chosen career field. Align your goals and successes with the company’s goals and successes.

Why should I hire you?

With this top interview question the interviewer is looking at your objective assessment of your suitability for the position. Link up your work experience to the requirements of this job. Describe the immediate relevance of your past experience. Provide examples of your transferable skills. Refer back to your strengths and how they will benefit the position and the company. Focus on your key skills and expand on how you will use them in this position. Offer a couple of examples to explain why you are so enthusiastic about the job, the work and the company. Think of the most convincing example you can give to prove your suitability. Is there something extra you offer in addition to the basic job requirements? Be specific and make it relevant to all you know about the job and company.

Have you any questions for me?

Yes, this is a key interview question! Fail to prepare for and answer this properly and you will eliminate any chance of success. Have a prepared list of good, insightful questions to ask in the interview. Let you questions demonstrate your research and knowledge of the company, the job and the industry. What do you want to know about the position ? Basically these are the areas you need to explore. What does the job actually involve? What is required of a successful employee in this position? Are these the people and management I will be happy working with? Will I flourish in this organization? Use the list of questions to ask in your job interview to guide you.

Prepare for these top interview questions and be confident that you will stand out as the right candidate for the job.

View more top interview questions with sample interview answers.

Julia Penny is an organizational psychologist with many years experience interviewing and placing candidates across a wide range of jobs. She offer her expertise to help job seekers succeed in job interviews and get the job they want at her free website Best Job Interview

‘I Don’t Have A Résumé; I Have A Story’

“I’m embarrassed to say it, but I’m supporting the white male.”

That remark was from earlier in the presidential campaign, when a middle-aged white woman confided — or was it confessed? — to a television reporter that she planned to vote for John Edwards.

That was when political analysts were reporting, with surprise in their voices, that being a female candidate was a “net positive,” as was being African-American.

I’m not a political commentator, and no one wants to hear the views of a white male on discrimination, but an election is a kind of job-placement process, and there’s one thing that white males know about race and gender discrimination that blacks and females do not — what white males say, alone together, about blacks and women.

Here it is: When it comes to corporate hiring, as in voting, being female is a net positive, as is being black. Hiring is deciding who gets in and who doesn’t, so it’s a matter of being discriminating. Thus, hiring is discrimination.

Everyone faces some net discrimination score. For instance, having an MBA is a big positive, yet there are people who won’t hire MBAs (believing them overpriced or overrated).

What are the biggest net negatives when it comes to hiring?

High Negatives

There’s having a criminal background, of course. But also high up in the negatives are a history of drug or alcohol addiction, as well as extreme job hopping.

Which brings us to business coach Stan Hustad, of Tucson, Ariz., and his experiment with job coaching. Hustad’s regular work is with business owners and executives, but as a favor, he agreed to turn his coaching skills to a job search.

The man in question — let’s call him Smith — had two of the big net negatives: alcoholism and possessing a deplorable job history. And this wasn’t a young man who’d lost his way; he was in his mid-50s, competing for jobs with much younger workers.

What Hustad immediately understood was that a conventional, résumé-based job search would be fruitless. So, Hustad got Smith to replace his résumé with a “story card.” It was printed on 8 1/2-inch-by-11-inch pieces of card stock, and Smith started telling people, “I don’t have a résumé — I have a story.”

Smith would hand them a card, which opened with, “I’ve made some bad choices and had some bad luck,” and ended with, “I’d be grateful for a chance to audition for a role at your company.”

In between, Smith said, “Here are some of the things I learned from my experiences,” and “This is how I believe I could be of help to your business.”

Smith took his story to job fairs and went networking. Whenever a contact would say something vague, like, “I’ll keep my ears open,” he’d ask them for a favor — to give his story card to two people who might be able to hire him.

The upshot was that he got several interviews and landed a better job than he’d hoped for, one with training and benefits — the sort of job that doesn’t go to a man with a lousy résumé.

Hustad added this observation about Smith’s self-esteem: “Before, he would go to interviews feeling he was having to hide his past, hoping not to be asked about it. But with the story card, he went in, as I say with my coaching clients, ‘dancing naked.’ He went in honest, and people respected that and wanted to give him a chance.”

Which takes us back to discrimination. Sure, there’s plenty of it. But against that is one of the most glorious of human traits: the willingness to help.

Dale Dauten is the founder of The Innovators’ Lab. His latest book is “(Great) Employees Only: How Gifted Bosses Hire and De-Hire Their Way to Success.”

A captivating and polished professional profile will provide the reader with a thorough understanding of your company’s vision and mission, the products and services you offer, your USP (Unique Selling Proposition), your credibility and your history.

What do you need to include in your professional profile? What does your professional profile need to accomplish?

~ It needs to tell your company’s story in a way that effectively engages your audience.

~ It needs to be creatively crafted, well written and professionally polished.

~ It needs to be about the heart and soul of your company. Your professional profile needs to tell your readers what your business is all about.

~ It needs to tell the story of your company’s vision and mission. What are the dreams you have for your company? What is the purpose of your company?

~ It needs to be about how your company began, how it grew and what it is today. Why did you start your business? How did it begin?

~ It needs to include key personnel. If you aren’t the only key player in your company, include a few tidbits about the others. Who are your managers or other key players? What roles do they play?

~ It needs to include product and service descriptions. What types of products and services do you offer and how do these help your visitors solve their problems?

~ It needs to include a sense of the culture surrounding the business

~ It needs to be honest. You need to be honest to establish credibility. Don’t embellish! Honesty is always the way to go!

~ It needs to be attention-grabbing

Highly influential persons determining if your company is the one they need and want to do business with, may use your company profile in making that determination. Vendors may also use your company profile as a source of information when you are seeking services, credit, funding, loans or venture capitalists.

It is very difficult to write about yourself or your company. Take it from me, even as a professional writer, even I have trouble when I need to write about my business or myself. Your company profile is more than an autobiography about the owner of the company.

Don’t take a chance with your professional profile. If you find it difficult to write about yourself, find a professional to work closely with you to create exactly what you need to portray your company in its best light.

Whatever you do, make certain that your professional profile is well written and polished.

You are invited to learn more about writing your company profile at my website: http://www.anitaspen.com Download your complimentary copy of my latest report: “Top Tips to Writing Company and Personal Profiles: 20 Do’s and don’ts to Creating a Powerful and Influential Marketing Tool”. This report is sure to help you as you write your profile, whether it be personal or for your company.

Referrals - Harnessing the power of social networking by Stephanie Whitaker

Word of mouth. Regardless of the service you’re seeking, the world runs on word-of-mouth recommendations and referrals. And that goes for finding the right employee.

Increasingly, employers are turning to their own workforces to help them find new employees, with many companies offering financial bonuses for those referrals.

A new website (www.bohire.com) takes it one step further, allows anyone to refer potential employees to companies that are recruiting.

“Recruitment has always been about networking,” said Toronto-based Vincent Tsang, one of Bohire’s three founders. “We’re leveraging the power of social networking and bringing it to the recruitment world.”

Here’s how the Bohire website works: Employers post jobs for free on the site and people refer friends, acquaintances or family members for the positions.

“The employers choose the rewards they want to pay,” Tsang said. “Each employer has a hiring budget, which is why there are different amounts attached to the various jobs.”

He says referrers needn’t be experts at recruiting; they need only to tap into their networks.

“You just have to know someone with the right skills. Everyone knows someone. That’s what makes this like social networking.”

Tsang got the idea for the service after a conversation with his friend, Vince Wong, a human resources director who expressed frustration with existing recruitment methods.

“He was frustrated with job boards and agencies,” Tsang said.

Tsang and his business partner, Clinton Fox, had had a lot of experience in the human resources field. Both had established Info Check, a Toronto resume-checking service, 15 years ago; they sold the company in 2006 and were wondering what their next gig would be.

Wong told Tsang that job boards weren’t always providing him with the best candidates.

“Active job seekers aren’t always of the same quality as passive job seekers,” Tsang said. “Agencies are great because they tap into passive job seekers, the people who are already employed and are doing a great job.”

However, the cost of finding the right candidate through a headhunter can be as high as 35 per cent of the candidate’s first year of salary.

Tsang, Fox and Wong began to brainstorm about creating a different recruitment tool.

“We realized that a vast amount of recruitment comes through referrals,” Tsang said. “An employer will trust the person referring someone because he knows that employee. It’s like going on vacation. You want to know who stayed at the resort you’re booking and how they liked it.”

The three partnered up to create the website, which went on line in January.

Bohire bills itself as a community of job referrers where employers can post an unlimited number of job offers at no cost. This week, the new job postings offered rewards ranging from from $350 to $6,300. Thirty per cent of the bonus goes to Bohire. However, that amount is skimmed off before the bonus is posted on the site.

“So referrers receive the amount that’s listed on the website,” Tsang said.

To ensure that referrers recommend the right talent, the site includes a rating system in which employers rate the referrers’ efforts, similar to the self-policing ratings on eBay. The referrer is also required to explain how he knows the person being referred, Tsang said, and why he’s referring the candidate.

“So the referrer has to do some work,” he said.

There’s also a provision that allows employers to test-drive newly hired candidates for 30 days before awarding the referral bonus.

“We want to make sure, from the employer’s perspective, that they’re protected,” Tsang said. “We’re not an agency. We’re a community of people referring people.”

Could a job referral website become the next hot trend in recruitment?

“I think it could put a lot of recruiting firms on edge,” said Linda Cicuta, a career adviser at the McGill Career Centre and a former headhunter.

She says the reason in-company referrals tend to be successful is that employees are usually able to assess whether the people they refer are likely to fit in. Supervisors in many companies turn to their own employees to recommend potential candidates because “the employee is familiar with the culture.”

“Skills are easy to find. Either you have the technical skills or you don’t. But if you have several candidates who meet your needs, it’s personality and character that allow them to fit into the organization,” Cicuta said.

Iris Unger, executive director of Youth Employment Services, says one of the things that makes in-house referrals work is if the referrers are committed to their organization.

“When people are satisfied with their companies, they’re the best ambassadors to identify people who are likely to fit into the culture,” she said.

The Bohire model is different from the in-company method of recruiting because referrers don’t work in the organizations to which they refer candidates.

“So the Bohire referrers become third-party recruiters,” Cicuta said.

Lindsay Ortega, a recruitment specialist at law firm Miller Thompson LLP, one of the employers that has posted jobs on Bohire, says the system has enabled the firm to hire four people in its Toronto office and the company is considering a candidate for its Montreal office.

“When people from outside of our culture refer candidates, we still do due diligence before hiring,” Ortega said. “When people refer candidates to us, they tell us why they think the people would be a good fit. They often say: ‘I’ve worked with this person for six months and I know he works hard, is keen to learn and is quick.’ We think this is a great business model because it makes the referrers accountable. And it’s enabled us to save about 86 per cent of the cost of recruiting someone.

“What’s more, we post referral rewards on our terms.”

In keeping with the social networking theme, Tsang said, Bohire has had an application on Facebook, which, when downloaded, gives Facebook members notice of new job postings.

“There are 9 million Facebook users in Canada, giving Bohire a potential reach of 9 million people,” he said.

I was driving through dairy country in Virginia, and the silos at every farm reminded me of a client I was working with at the time - a successful manufacturing company undergoing change. They had organizational silos - much tougher to deal with than the ones on the farm. But they do share certain characteristics.

The company had been successful for many years, but new competition and new technology were forcing change. Their organizational silos were big obstacles to change.They were firmly in place, and while their occupants were convinced of the need for change, they were just as firmly convinced change was needed in all the other silos, but not in theirs. Whenever the call for increased productivity, problem solving and collaboration went out, each silo responded individually - by working harder - more hours - more volume. It got a lot busier, but not a lot more effective.

It wasn’t until the silos were changed that real change and growth could take place.

The CEO realized that all silos have two things in common - first, they keep things in - and second, they keep things out.

There is one other thing the vast majority of silos share - the only way to get anything into them is through the top - or, sometimes, through the bottom. Nothing gets in through the sides.

One way for that to change is to knock down the silos, but the longer they’ve been in place, the tougher that is to do. And they have real value to most enterprises - they’re not necessarily bad. And when they are knocked down, all hell breaks loose - so it isn’t done very often.

My client placed a high value on their silos - they were structures that had been effective and provided the kind of organization and order that focused people on their work. That kind of order has a high value - as it should. And the silos were full of good, experienced people who knew their jobs, and took pride in them. But when organizational silos create barriers to collaboration, to outside the box (or should we say silo) thinking, to looking at new and innovative solutions to competition and innovation, then they have to be dealt with.

My client decided on a strategy that kept the structures, but poked holes in the sides - letting ideas and communication and problem solving circulate through different levels - and creating opportunities for peer to peer and cross functional activities to occur. It wasn’t easy, but it was effective.

The key steps taken to make this happen were :

The CEO communicated expectations. He made it very clear in communications and actions that the way internal business was conducted had to change if the business was to survive and prosper. He communicated the pressing need for change. He then communicated what he saw as the structure that would be developed to make that happen.

The top 5 goals for the business were made known to every one of the 1500 employees.

Company and functional area performance to the top 5 goals was reported to all on a monthly basis.

Cross functional and problem solving teams were established and trained in team development, dynamics and communications.

A close analysis of approval chains was made with the objective of eliminating as many low value - added steps as possible - and putting as much responsibility as possible at the most effective operating level.

Every functional head was required to make cross functional activity part of every employees responsibilities. Either as part of a team, or through temporary assignments, or through transfer to other functions.

Every functional head was required to communicate their contribution and issues to the whole organization. This was done using teleconferences and meetings, an internal Ezine, and face to face meetings

The effect was that the silos grew closer to each other - and became interdependent. It worked well enough that the business found solutions that kept it competitive and growing. And they found them inside the organization - the place where 95% of the answers to organizational issues can be found. And just as importantly, it created a new set of behaviors between silos that allowed skills, experience and capabilities to be used on an interdependent basis. Much higher leverage of human capital was created.

Silos don’t have to be knocked down. While “organizational silos” is most often spoken as a negative term, it doesn’t have to be. Respecting and valuing structure while creating opportunities for leveraging the talent in organizations can be the single most effective that can be done to gain competitive advantage.

Andy Cox is President of Cox Consulting Group LLC. The focus of his work is on helping organizations and their people increase their success in the hiring, developing and enhancing the performance of leaders and emerging leaders. Cox Consulting Group LLC was started in 1995, and has worked with a wide range of organizations, managers and leaders - helping them define success, achieve success and make the ability to change a competitive advantage. He can be reached at http://coxconsultgroup.com

It is good business etiquette to thank the customers who have helped you get more business through referrals. If you want to keep these important customers loyal to you, it is a good idea to send them a sincere ‘thank you for your referral’ letter. This is done to let these customers know that you truly appreciate their recommendation, and that you value your relationship with them.

Here are 7 quick tips on how to write an effective “thank you for your referral” letter:

1. Try to write as clearly and simply as possible. Be concise and avoid using flowery and long winded words and phrases.

2. Be as sincere as possible in your ‘thank you’ letter. If you don’t, your customers will surely detect your lack of sincerity. If there’s one thing worse than not sending a ‘thank you’ letter, it’s sending an insincere one.

3. Learn to stick to the point. Keep your letters short and sweet. Don’t start diverting to other topics. Basically, just get straight to the point as soon as you can. Your letter should not be longer than a couple of paragraphs.

4. Write the ‘thank you’ letter as soon as you can after getting the referral. Preferably, your ‘thank you’ letter should reach the person within 24 hours. Also, do not thank the person in advance. (eg “thank you in advance for your help”)

5. Use A-Grade paper for your letter. If the thank you letter is meant for a business partner, then remember use a customized letterhead. In a less formal situation, you may choose to use email instead. This is useful if you want your letters to reach your customers fast, although it isn’t as effective. Snail mail is the best, so please use it whenever you can. It’s worth the extra effort.

6. Make sure that you check for any grammatical errors or typos. If you fail to do so, you letter will look sloppy and extremely unprofessional.

7. Address your ‘thank you’ letter to the specific person, and not to the company or to the organization in general.

Now that you have understood these tips, here’s an example of how you can draft out a ‘thank you for your referral’ letter.

LETTERHEAD (or company’s name)

Company’s ADDRESS

City, State Zip

Date

Addressee

Address

City, State Zip

Danny,

Thank you so much for recommending us to CyberMart in Boston. Mr. Eric Stone from their marketing staff called earlier this afternoon, expressing an interest in our products, and we plan to visit their company this week to show them what we have to offer.

I realize you’re having a hectic time at work, but despite this you took the time to write to CyberMart suggesting that they contact us. Your faith in us is very much appreciated, and we sincerely thank you for your vote of confidence.

Thank you for your recommendation. I’ll be looking for an opportunity to return the favor.

Cordially,

Writing a thank you referral letter is not that tough. Follow this letter layout and you will be on the right track. Treat each referral source with care and over time, you will be able to build a solid business foundation based on trust and have enjoy a continuous flow of prospects knocking on your door.

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