How to Get More Email Sign-Ups on Your Recruitment Agency Website

How to Get More Email Sign-Ups on Your Recruitment Agency Website As a recruiting or staffing agency, you will have plenty of website visitors (potential new clients) that take a look at 2-3 of your pages and then vanish never to come back again.  How can we make these people take action and sign up for your newsletter, a download  or simply get in touch? I recently had a chat with Tim Paige, Conversion Educator and podcaster extraordinaire at  LeadPages  to find out. You can  listen to the audio podcast on  iTunes    Soundcloud  (above)  or keep reading for an abridged  transcript of our conversation.  Questions by me, answers by Tim. A longer version of this post is available at Link Humans. How do you get visitors  to sign up on your site? The first thing would be to always keep your audience interest in mind. We have this tendency as business owners and as entrepreneurs, I think a lot of the times we’re A-type personalities. Not all of us, but a lot of us are. We tend to inadvertently focus on ourselves. When we talk about our businesses whether it’s on a landing page or our website or whatever, we talk about our business. That’s not really the best way to go. When you’re speaking to an audience, you want to be focusing on them, not you. If I go to a website, me as a consumer, I’m not particularly interested in that website or that business; I’m interested in what that’s going to provide for me. Even if it’s on a subconscious level, I’m still trying to figure out what I can get out of that or how that provides some kind of value in my life. We as entrepreneurs, and business owners, and marketers, if we’re constantly focusing on ourselves, then we never really answer the question of what’s in it f or me, which is what every visit to your website or patron to your business that that’s exactly what they want to know, “What’s in it for me?” The first step is to make sure that all of your messaging, all of your targeting, everything that you’re doing is focused on the customer. The second step is to start asking them for their email address. The simplest way to go about this and this is the way that you see a lot of entry level marketers do is they will put just a simple opt-in form on the website that maybe they got from AWeber, or  MailChimp, or something like that, and it’ll say “subscribe for e-mail updates.” I would say given the choice between that and not asking for an email address, that’s a better way to go. But here again is a problem is that if we’re just telling people, “Hey, enter your email address to subscribe for updates,” we’re not providing real value there. Remember it’s still focused on you as a business, not them as a customer. So saying “subscribe for updates,” that just means they’re going to get updates about your business and most people really aren’t interested in updates about your business. Instead the way to really start building an email list is to start offering people something in exchange for their email address. Think of it as a kind of transaction. The same way as you would sell them your product or sell them your service, they would give you money and you would give them the product or service. The email address is to you, the entrepreneur, it is just like money. Having that email address is now an opportunity to market to them in a way that they have asked you to do so. You need to exchange them something for that money or currency that they are offering you. We call that a lead magnet. Some people call it an opt-in bribe or a freebie or whatever, but we call it a lead magnet. It’s something that you offer in exchange for somebody giving you their email address. There are lots of options for lead magnets. A simple one that we’ve found that converts really, really well is what we call a resource guide. That is just a list of tools or resources that can help your target customer accomplish something whether it’s some products that can help them overcome their pain, whether it’s five outfits that they can wear to look great at their next party, or whether it’s some websites to help them get more business, or whatever it is. It’s a simple list of tools or resources. We recommend it be a one-page PDF list of tools or resources. What you do is you put some copy related to that on a landing page. What are the best tools  for gathering sign-ups? It’s really hard because we have so many integration partners at LeadPages that we just love. I do think it is a largely personal thing. I’ll give an example and this is in no way saying that these are the best tools or aren’t the best tools, but I’ll give a great example. At LeadPages, we use Infusionsoft. Part of the reason is because it offers a ridiculous amount of flexibility. With over 150,000 people on our mailing list and with very tech savvy folks on our team that focus entirely on that, it makes sense to do that. There are great tools like ActiveCampaign. It’s kind on the level of Infusionsoft in some ways. Some people love it. Some people love MailChimp and hate AWeber. There a lot of different options out there in terms of email service providers and I recommend you try a few and see what works best for you. In terms of landing page creation, webinar registration, sales pages, that kind of stuff,  LeadPages hands-down we’re the leader in the space. We have over 30,000 paying customers. We have literally tens of thousands of split tests happening across our platform at all times. Over 6 million pages have been created on out platform. LeadPages is the way to go in terms of landing pages creation and sales pages and the conversion tools on your website. If  you wanted to split test other elements outside of LeadPages… By the way, split test means you’re sending traffic to two different versions of a page and seeing what converts best. If you wanted to do something like that, then you can use a tool like  Visual Website Optimizer or Optimizely. This might sound funny, but I’m going to say if somebody were to be trying to get into this and start building their list for the first time, the two tools that you would need if you’re just starting are either AWeber or MailChimp, something in that line, and LeadPages. That’s a great way to start. And as your knowledge grows, as your ability to create conversions grows, as your copyrighting ability grows, as your sales ability grow, you can then move on to more sophisticated tools if you find that you need them. Many businesses don’t need a high level of sophistication. A simple email service provider and a landing page creator, those two things are plenty. From there if you find that you need some automation, for example if you want to start doing webinars on a high level, you can use something like GoToWebinar. I think a lot of people get caught up in the details and think they need all these different tools when at the end of the day, simple things are really all you need. What brands can we learn from? There are lots of great companies that are doing this well. In the enterprise space, there are companies like Shopify, Ontraport, Buffer are doing this really well.  Greenpeace, Mac Rumors, they’re doing this really, really well. There are also lots of brand marketers. For example, Amy Porterfield  is absolutely crushing it,  James Schramko from SuperFast Business is another great example, Pat Flynn  from Smart Passive Income, John Lee Dumas from EntrepreneurOnFire, all doing a great job of growing their email list, growing their brands and doing things the right way. Follow Tim  on Twitter  @TimthePaige.

The Purpose of Resume Wording For Technical Writing

The Purpose of Resume Wording For Technical WritingWriting resumes is not as easy as writing a regular one. Since technical writing involves technical background and technical knowledge, it requires a great deal of precision. To write resumes that are capable of pulling the right interview result, you have to be careful with the layout and resume wording for technical writing. The point here is to make sure that your resume is unique and stands out among the rest of the applicants who have similar skills.Technological and technical writing are both the hottest topics these days. The field of technical writing is not new. It has been around for quite some time. In fact, the entire world is now dependent on technology and computers. However, these days, even students prefer to work on their laptops rather than using typewriters.Technical writing is divided into two types. The first type is non-technical writing. This type involves scientific or technical background. The other type is t echnical writing.Resume wording for technical writing would also require two details. First, there is need to establish a contrast between the information you want to present and the information provided by the employer. The employer needs to know how much you know about the subject matter and how much the candidate knows about it.Technical writing is usually short and concise. You need to make sure that your resume is readable and easy to understand. Besides, the resume wording for technical writing needs to emphasize the same.Technical writing is basically concerned with the ability of a person to make use of technology. Technical writing involves the use of skills in technology, to analyze and calculate data from that data. There is also an emphasis on the accuracy of the calculations involved.Technical writing is also required when you want to state the skills you possess. There are times when the skill itself will not do the trick. Technical writing focuses on creating a specif ic impression in the reader.Technical writing is for those people who can use technology effectively. These people will be the one who will be hired by employers. They will be the ones who will be given more responsibilities and higher salaries.

All About Saving Money

All About Saving Money The web is practically awash with articles offering ‘creative’, ‘new’ or ‘ingenious’ ways to save money around the home; but how many of these really are creative, new or ingenious? These days not as many as claim to be. In this article I’m not going to claim my suggestions are super new or the most creative ways that you can save money around the home Instead it’s back to basics with more creative, homemade items and a few simple budgeting challenges. All my suggestions are are tried and tested ways to save you cash with many coming from how previous generations go through leaner times. Saving money around the home Money saving bathroom tips Save water: Let’s start at the top and work down. The bathroom is one the easiest places to start saving money. It’s a surprising fact that showers use as much, and in the case of power showers much more, water than a bath does. That’s a lot of hot water down the sink. Installing a water and energy efficient showerhead can cut water usage by over 75%. Next on our water guzzling hitlist is the loo. Your loo uses 30% of your water usage. Installing a cistern displacement device, usually free from your water company, cuts it down by 1ltr a go. Make your own soap and shampoo bars: Beauty products, soaps and shampoos can add up to quite a lot over the year. There are lots of soap and shampoo bar recipes out there and you can have fun getting creative, adding in scents and scrubs to make your own personal bar. Homemade cleaning products: Bathrooms are one of the trickiest rooms to keep squeaky clean and they can quickly use up cleaning products. But do you need fancy bottles of expensive brands to clean your bathroom well? The answer is no. Apart from being better for your wallet they are kinder to the environment and any allergies you may have. Simple cleaning spray recipes such as these leave your bathroom looking and smelling lovely. Kitchen garden tips Dig for (financial) victory: Start a vegetable garden or window box. Aside from reducing your food bill regular gardening has been shown to ward off depression, improve mood and leads to overall health benefits. The exercise from gardening is comparable to jogging or swimming and at the end you have delicious home grown vegetables to enjoy. Have a meatless Monday: Cut your weekly food budget with a meatless Monday as meat prices rise. Meat-free recipes are generally cheaper and whilst you might not want to go veggie every day even once a week has great health and money saving benefits. Try using some of the vegetables you’ve grown in your new garden to supplement your grocery haul and celebrate your new green fingers. Cheesy tips: Buy stronger, more mature cheeses. Whilst they are more expensive you’ll find they last much longer as you can drastically cut the amount used in recipes without losing any flavour. Next try grating the whole block and popping it in the freezer. Use it as required in recipes without defrosting as it will melt into your dish it also stops you nibbling on it and using it all up! Around the home You’ve got the power. To switch: If you find you use electricity to heat water or run heaters during the day try switching your energy plan to Economy 10 energy (see OVO’s guide to Economy 10 here). You get off-peak periods in the morning, afternoon and evening, giving you a balance of rates through the day. It is better for those who use storage heaters, radiators and boilers during the day. You can match when you run them to off-peak energy periods, even doing laundry during these periods will help lower bills. Sell stuff online: An old one, but still a good one. With the right descriptions and items you can make a killing on Ebay from things lying around the home. Designer handbag you don’t use anymore? Old phone gathering dust? Decluttering your home can give you cash to pop into savings or emergency funds. You’ll feel more organised and have more spare cash too. Try a spending challenge: Set yourself a goal such as, for the rest of the month you can only spend money on necessities. Or try a ‘tenner week’ where you can only spend £10 for the entire week inclusive of everything but travel. Kitchen cupboards, fridge and freezer bursting at the seemes? Give the empty the store cupboard challenge a go. The idea is simple, gradually use up everything in your cupboards starting with the oldest stuff first. It should help to cut down on food waste we each throw away around £60 of food per month in the UK. DIY air freshener: Getting back to making things ourselves, like in the bathroom, it’s time to start making things again. Scents can affects your mood by relaxing or energising you and increase your productivity. Think about the smell of freshly baked cookies or fresh cut flowers. By making your own air freshener you can save money and get to use your favourite scents. Reuse and recycle: Check out your local council website to see if your borough operates a recycle/ reward scheme. Some councils set aside cash for each extra tonne they recycle. They then ask local residents to bid on that pot of money to use in local projects. Its a great idea thats beneficial for the whole community. Money saving out and about Bring a packed lunch!: Making your own sandwiches or bringing a packed lunch instead of popping to Tesco or Starbucks every day could save an average of £1,288 per year. The average brit office worker spends roughly £8 a day for 46 working weeks on lunch. Making lunch at home costs, on average, £552 per year a huge saving. Just taking sandwiches into work could help pay off a £100,000 mortgage 5 years earlier! Order a Weekend Box: There are lots of sites where you can find voucher codes for a free weekend box from weekendboxclub. Ideal for children, they have four fun activities for children, something to cook, make, explore and something green. Apart from a few storecupboard staples they have everything you need to keep the kids entertained through a weekend. Think cheaply: Make a list of free activities, such as parks to visit, local museums or walks, in your local area so that you can still have fun days out whilst saving money.

Why LinkedIn and Australians Dont Mix

Why LinkedIn and Australians Dont Mix I know that LinkedIn is immensely popular. 450 million users worldwide, says so. But how many Aussies really truly embrace it? Last week as I was updating my own LinkedIn profile, I did a search of my previous work colleagues, friends and old clients and could find hardly find any of them there. The ones who did have a profile had the barest of details, and definitely no superlatives or adjectives. Just yesterday, even, I spoke to a client, who, despite looking for a permanent role for the past two months had only just put his profile on. He received an email and a call from a recruiter, a couple of days after. He was surprised. I find this bizarre. LinkedIn has been a head-hunter’s best friend for the past five years or so. So why don’t we, as Australians, instinctively embrace it? Is it that we’re not great writers when it comes to writing about ourselves? Is the Aussie Tall Poppy syndrome going on here? Unlike a resume where we can control who we send it to, a LinkedIn profile broadcasts our claims to the world. Are we afraid that if we publicly announce what we’re good at, that someone will contact us and tell us we’re not? I wonder whether we associate it with what we see as US style self promotion â€" all a bit too, “salesy,” where absolutely everyone’s a winner and out there. Do we not know what LinkedIn is about, or just don’t see the value in networking? Do we put it in the bucket that says “a bit desperate”? Or is it because we have to ask people to link up with us and endorse us? Will we feel slightly foolish if they say no? Or is it simply just another online thingie we need to master. I guess effectively we’re updating our resumes in our leisure time. Who really wants to do that? For anyone who has any doubts about LinkedIn, here are a few facts that might inspire you. Recruiters will Google you. LinkedIn gives you one Google reference you can control. Social networks aside, unless you’re a blogger, publisher or write web content for a living, you don’t have much control about what ends up there. Recruiters love LinkedIn. They scan it all the time. They see candidates on LinkedIn as “passive job seekers,” mainly working and therefore more attractive. This is a weird psychology to me, but it’s true. LinkedIn is a bucket of virtual business cards. If you want to network you can contact people directly. You don’t even have to be brazen about it. You can join groups who share similar interests. Often groups hold free events. There are hundreds of them. It’s a great way to hook up with people in your industry. Don’t make me preach any more. I know what I’ve just written won’t be new news for any seasoned networkers. And for any North Americans reading this, I don’t think you’re all show offs! I actually do think you do LinkedIn pretty well. For anyone else, just get over your fears and get on it. Update: OK, with 8 million users in Oz, maybe its finally taking on? Related: How IKEA Recruits Staff Using Flatpacks in Australia Image: Shutterstock

Tips For Writing a Resume That Works

Tips For Writing a Resume That WorksWhile writing a resume is essential to your professional and job search, it can sometimes be difficult. Sometimes you might get lost in all the different elements that go into creating the resume that will represent you. Well, there are some general tips that you should remember when creating a resume, and they don't have to be very difficult to understand.One of the most important things that you need to keep in mind is that your resume should stand out from the rest. While this seems obvious, it is often easy to get lost in all the other details that go into creating a great resume. It doesn't really matter how good your resume is, if no one knows about it, then it has not done its job.Your resume should be appealing to everyone. You want your resume to stand out from the others, and one way to do this is to make sure that it includes everything that people would expect when looking at a resume. Don't skip anything, and always make sure that you include all of the necessary information to show that you are a valuable candidate.You also need to think about what you need to have included on the resume. Sometimes people who need a resume in order to get a job know very little about their own personal skills and preferences. This is not the best way to find a job, but it is one of the easiest ways to make a bad resume.The first step in your career into the business world is to make sure that you know what you want to see in a resume. There are many steps that are involved with creating a professional resume, and you need to know what to do before you start your work on the job hunt. You can learn everything that you need to know about creating a resume right on the Internet.After you have been able to figure out what kind of resume you want, it is time to start thinking about who you want to send it to. This is an important step because you will want to make sure that the person receiving your resume actually needs the informat ion on it. It is not enough to just think about how much your resume will mean to you, you also need to think about the person that will be receiving it.When you are sending your resume out to get a job, you should make sure that you have a resume that looks professional. This means that you should take the time to make sure that it fits in with the expectations of the job you are seeking. There are many small things that you can do to make your resume look professional, and many of these ideas are easy to implement.In the end, when you are sending your resume out to get a new job, you should remember that it is about more than just what you can do for a company. You should also be sure that you make the first impression count. Making sure that your resume is great for everyone will get you a great new job, but it will also make you a great person at work.

What Will You Do Differently Based On This

What Will You Do Differently Based On This If I told you your chances of securing a new job were greater if you found and used connections inside the hiring company to refer you, would you believe me? If I told you that social networking tools should be a major component of your job search, would you embrace them? If you just apply online and hope you get called, what are your chances? These and many other job search questions are raised and answered in this years CareerXroads Source of Hire report. What Is The #1 Source of Hire? According to the study The #1 Source of Hire is right under our nose. Not employee referrals but current employees  who fill 42% of all the openings. What this means is that if you are tired of banging your head against the wall or just cant land that job with your dream company see if you can position yourself as the perfect fit for another role inside the company. But heres the thing, you cant blatantly admit that you just want to get your foot in the door. You have to prove that you will succeed in the job you are applying for and commit to staying awhile in that role. The employer doesnt want to have to fill it again too soon. Think about the time and effort they invest in acclimating you to the role. (I dont dare say training, because that might give you the wrong impression. Training technically comes in many different forms besides a formal learning environment.) Cultural fit is going to go a long way here. Being the right fit will mean you match the culture of the group hiring which is hopefully the same as the company overall. You will have to do your research and by this I mean talking with department and company insiders. You want to understand what types of people are successful and who gets promoted and WHY. Simply reading the company website will not give you these details. The Most Meaningful Data Referrals 24.5% Career Site 23.4% Jobboards 18.1% Direct Source 6.8% College 5.5% Rehires 3.3% 3rd Party (recruiters) 3.1% Social Media 2.9% Print 2.3% Temp/Contract-to-hire 1.5% Career Fairs 1.2% Walk-ins 0.3% Other 7.2% Get referred! We estimate that a candidate who has acquired a referral is 3-4 times more likely to be hired -Key Findings, 2013 Source of Hire, CareerXroads But if you cant get referred Use the companys career portal or the careers board on their website. Bookmark these pages and check in regularly or set alerts if it will allow you to. Just know this Most companies receive between 51-100 applications per job. Companies also state that 51-75% are NOT qualified.  My interpretation for the not qualified percent being so high due to: 1) It is so easy and free to apply for jobs online (applicants may not understand the job requirements or take the time to learn) AND 2) Applicants fail to prove they are qualified (they do not customize their applications/resumes for each job). Use All Methods! Rather than excluding one source because of its low percentage, use them all- just allocate your time appropriately. What I mean is, spend more of your time using the sources that are more likely to translate into a hire. Social Media May be An Under Represented Source It is unlikely that a single source of hire can be credited today. How many of you have emailed a job posting you found on a job site or shared it on social media? So, how would someone report they learned about the job opening? It gets complicated and the authors state this is one of the difficulties with the study. [R]espondents also believe that Social Media influences, drives or combines with 7 out of 11 other sources: Referrals, Company Career Site, Job Boards, Direct Source, College, Temp-to-Hire and Career Fairs. Dont discount the importance of social! The Flaws, IMO This is one of the better studies around, but, it does have its limitations. CareerXroads only surveyed large companies who have recruiting staff to manage the 185,000 openings they filled last year. Take a look around your city and you will find the majority of companies have under 1,000 employees. Where do their new hires come from? They may not be able to tell you with great data or certainty, but due to smaller budgets and less staff, their source of hire data are different! We Stink At Big Data Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, co-founders of CareerXroads, note that one of the biggest take-aways from this study is the lack of good data. The technology is there but companies are just not doing a great job of managing it and analyzing it. FYI, one of the faster growing occupations is Big Data Analysis. Why? We are gathering data at an unprecedented rate due to technology and mediums. How will we use all this information were gathering?  by Indeed This data has been replaced by this: Job Category Trends: Information Design Documentation Whats Next? 2013 Expected to be a big year for hiring Respondents stated  they filled 8.6% fewer openings in 2012 than in 2011. In stark contrast, if respondent’s predictions for 2013 are realized this will be a banner year for US hires staffing leaders are predicting F/T hiring will increase by 17.5% in in the US in 2013. Well, one can hope! Cheers to your success in 2013! If you are still with me here, what take-aways do you have from this years study? Leave a comment! Others who have written/interpreted this study (recruiters and HR): Source of Hire Report: Referrals, Career Sites, Job Boards Dominate  by Lance Haun on ERE.net Sources of Hire: Is Perception Reality? by China Gorman

How to Present Challenges to Your Boss

How to Present Challenges to Your Boss No matter how skillful you are in your job, problems, challenges and issues are unavoidable. Some of them will be ones you can handle on your own without anyone else being the wiser. But often, you’ll have to tell your boss. And that’s where things get interesting… and stressful. Because bosses come in many shapes and sizes, and they each have their own temperaments, there’s no single best way of communicating problems or challenges. Fortunately, there are some rules of thumb that may be helpful when presenting challenges to different types of bosses, which I’ll get to in a minute. But first, there are two keys to success no matter what kind of boss you have. Be Timely When Communicating Challenges The first key to success is timeliness. You want to tell your boss about problems, challenges and issues early enough that there’s still time to fix them. Or if they can’t be fixed, then at least give your boss enough time to do damage control and manage the fall out. And rather than come with just the problem, it’s important to come with your proposed solution.   The three timeframes to think of are: As soon as you see signs of a potential problem looming on the horizon. That’s a great time to flag the issue with a simple, “Flagging this as something to keep an eye on. If it progresses, I plan to do X and will keep you updated.” When the problem or issue is looking likely. This is when you really need to have a proposed plan of action and get input from your boss. The best way to communicate is to stick to the facts and describe the situation, then your proposed way forward, and ask for their thoughts. It’s also a good time to suggest the action that you need from your boss. If the problem is already here and you haven’t had time to do the early warnings, then the best way is to tell them the current situation calmly and succinctly â€" what’s happened and where things stand, what you propose to do, and what support you need, if any. Get in the Right Frame of Mind The second key when you’re facing a challenge is to get yourself under control. Breathing, quieting your thoughts and replacing them with calming words like “focus on what we can do” or “you can do this, May” work well for me. What works for you? See how you can reframe the situation for yourself so you can get in a constructive mindset and stay out of “fear mode”. When you’re in fear mode, you can’t think. You can only react, and that won’t serve you well. This is a great time to look for the opportunity in the challenge or problem. What can you learn from this? How could this become a positive for you and your team? Where’s the silver lining? Look for the opportunity in a challenge or problem and what you can learn from it. Being in an opportunity-based frame of mind will help you communicate professionally with your boss and come across as the leader you are. Keep in mind that this is about getting yourself into a proactive rather than reactive mindset. It doesn’t mean presenting the challenge as an opportunity to your boss (it’s up to your boss to say that, not you!). The sign of a great leader is to be able to keep a clear mind even when things go wrong, so do your best to manage yourself and your emotions. Once you’ve gotten into the right frame of mind, it’s time to give some thought to the most effective way to approach your boss. How does your boss like to be communicated with? What style and approach has been most effective in the past? Communicating Challenges to Your Boss You will have the best insight into how to communicate with your boss based on your knowledge of their temperament and your past experiences, so trust your judgement. If you’re uncertain, you can also ask mentors and colleagues you trust for their input if they’ve had more experience of your boss than you. In my experience, there are four main types of bosses: The Micromanager The Hands Off Boss The Drill Sergeant The Too Busy Boss As you formulate your thoughts, you might find the following observations useful about their tendencies and the strategy that works best for presenting challenges to each of them. The Micromanager Boss Their Tendencies: A micromanager is usually someone who needs to feel in control of what’s going on. They’re concerned about making mistakes and letting others down… and having it reflect badly on them. Often, they’re also perfectionists who subscribe to the idea that “if you want something done properly, do it yourself” but have gotten to the point where they physically can’t do it all on their own. The next best thing is to “closely supervise” someone else (i.e. you!) to do it exactly the way they would have done it. They may also be new to their role and want to make a good first impression. Your Strategy: Tell your boss early and often. Keep them updated more often than you might think necessary. Since micromanagers hate surprises, give them plenty of warning so they can take the actions they think are necessary. Keeping your micromanaging boss apprised all along the way will put you in a better position in the event the problem becomes real. If you don’t and the problem pops up as a surprise, they’re likely to beat themselves up internally for letting this problem occur and double down on micromanaging to prevent the issue from occurring in the future. Once the problem or challenge is real, be ready to provide complete details in a succinct way. When a micromanager is under stress, they’re likely to be impatient even though they still want to hear all the facts. Again, if you’ve kept them in the loop all along, things will go more smoothly and your relationship can even improve. The “Hands Off” Boss Their Tendencies: The “hands off” boss is the opposite of the micromanager. Their tendency is to leave the team to get on with whatever needs doing. They expect you to be resourceful and creative. They tend to focus on the big picture and don’t want to be bothered with the minutia of day-to-day operational details. They’re more interested in results than the process of getting from here to there, and their expectation is that you’ll be up to the task without needing a lot of input from them. However, if you do need their help to achieve the result (like make a phone call to their counterpart at the client or negotiate for more resources), they’re usually happy to help. In a way, the tables are turned in that you’ll need to direct your boss to do what you need them to do rather than the other way around. And even though they’re “hands off” when things are going well, some Hands Off bosses can suddenly become Drill Sergeants (coming up next) or Micromanagers when faced with a problem that makes them look bad. Your Strategy: When you tell your “hands off” type of boss about a problem or challenge, remember that their default is to let you deal with it, so be prepared to do just that. Think through your proposed course of action, including any input or interventions you need from your boss. When you speak to him or her, present the issue along with your proposed solution and get their thoughts on what they would add or change. Be direct in letting them know what you need them to do and why it’s in their interest to take that action. If there’s a deadline, let them know that too. To get what you need from a Hands Off boss in a crisis, it helps to lay it out calmly and clearly for them. You will want to strike the right balance between telling them enough of the background so they understand the issue quickly, and giving them all the information you’ve been living with in the lead-up to the problem emerging. Your Hands Off boss will appreciate your being able to give them just the right amount of information at just the right time to avert disaster and generate the desired result. In essence, you’re providing leverage for them to spend the smallest amount of time managing you for the biggest return for the team and the organization. Doing this successfully requires that you understand your boss and have a trusted relationship on the one hand, and also have a grip on the challenge and how to solve it on the other hand. Done well, you can even gain a reputation for being good in a crisis! The Drill Sergeant Boss Their Tendencies: Most Drill Sergeant bosses believe in “tough love”. Putting you under pressure and testing your limits is part of what’s necessary for you to become the best you can be. It’s a tough world out there, and it’s the boss’s job to make sure you’re able to thrive in it.   They also tend to be direct. They don’t sugar coat or mince words. They tell it to you straight, even if it stings. In some cases, Drill Sergeants may be unable to manage their own stress. This is when they go beyond simply testing you and it starts to feel personal. The key is to not take things personally (frankly, that’ll make your life more enjoyable whether or not you have a Drill Sergeant boss). Instead, think of it this way: just be glad you’re not married to them! Your Strategy: With a Drill Sergeant boss, it’s best to tell it like it is. Think of it as the “Rip off the Band-Aid” approach. Get to the point and stick to the facts. They tend to be uncomfortable with other people (you, in this case) showing emotion. Even if they’re shouting, it doesn’t mean they want you to shout back. They may not even realize they’re yelling at you. What they do expect is that you can take the heat without crumpling. So expect the heat blast response, breathe through it and stick to being matter-of-fact. Let them get their initial reaction out of their system so you can go on to a more rational discussion. And if they go on for a long time yelling at you, but you need to move forward, then say something like this: “I respect that you have every right to be angry with me and I’ll be around all day to continue this part of the discussion, but in the meantime we have a room full of people waiting to hear the next step. Here’s what I propose (describe your plan). I’m interested to hear your advice.” The Too Busy Boss Their Tendencies: The Too Busy Boss tends to be a nice person who has a hard time saying “no” and may struggle to delegate effectively. That’s why they have so much on their plate and so little time to focus. While they do their best to please everyone, they end up stretching themselves thin across too many tasks and projects. Often, they feel frazzled and as though they’re not on top of things. They are likely to worry about things falling through the cracks and feel anxious about depending on their team members to handle things. Unless they have a great Personal Assistant, they may be a bit disorganized as they’re juggling so many “priorities” and commitments. This means they may not have read your previous briefing documents or may struggle to even find them. Because they’re pulled in so many directions, it’s often hard to get on their calendar or to count on them to follow up on what they’ve said they will do. Yet they care about you and the rest of the team and want to be a good boss if they only had time to do it well. Your Strategy: They’re likely to be hard to reach, yet still need to know. So, you’ll need to be quite persistent to get their attention, and clear in your recommendations on what to do. Reducing your “ask” to the 1-2 actions you need them to take and making it easy for them to get it done while you wait is a strategy that has worked well for me. For example, giving them the 3-bullet point script for a phone call you need them to make, drafting the email for them to forward, or bringing a copy of the memo you need them to sign off on can work wonders. Recognize that while the Too Busy Boss is typically a nice person, they may react emotionally because they’re frazzled and overwhelmed with too much else going on. Again, don’t take this personally. Stick with being matter-of-fact and maintain your composure. In a calm moment after the challenge has passed, see if you can agree a special signal or way to get through to them when it’s critical to do so. As in when there’s a challenge or problem they need to know about. Your Challenge is an Opportunity When you have to present a challenge to your boss, treat it as an opportunity to strengthen your relationship. When done on a timely basis in a manner that matches your boss’s style (and yours), you can demonstrate your composure under pressure and ability to find solutions that save the day. And more importantly, build trust. We all face challenges, problems and issues. The key is how you handle yourself when challenges hit. We all face challenges, problems and issues. The key is how you handle yourself when challenges hit. Now, I’d love to hear from you… What’s been your experience of presenting challenges to your boss and what strategy has worked best for you? Leave me a comment and share your experiences.