Why McDonalds Employees Are Lovin It

Why McDonalds Employees Are Lovin It With its famous golden arches and instantly recognisable Im lovin it slogan, the McDonalds brand is one of the largest and most recognisable corporations in the world. McDonalds is the worlds second largest private employer (behind Walmart) and has 1.9 million employees in branches and offices around the world. Because the brand is such a large one, McDonalds invest a large amount of time into the HR and company culture of the fast-food chain, and continually introduce initiatives to improve it for their employees. They have won a multitude of impressive awards for their approaches to HR and company culture. So what ways have the burger brand been boosting their HR profile? Lets take a look They cultivate pride: Over the years, McDonalds employees have taken a bit of a rap due to the nature of the company they work for. Jobs at McDonalds had an attached stigma or negative connotation which McDonalds recognise and actively try to reduce. They work hard on cultivating a sense of pride among staff, and use opportunities such as providing its employees the opportunity to work at cool events it sponsors, such as the London Olympics where it sent 2,000 of its staff. They provide equal opportunities: Something that McDonalds are very well known for is creating equal opportunities for everyone.They have made a point to attract and retain a very diverse group of people, and they make sure this is done by providing managers with diversity training and workshops. Thee workshops allow managers to learn how to bring the best out of everybody no matter their physical wellness or levels of health. They provide opportunities: If youve never heard of The Hamburger Universitywhere have you been?! The training campus has been called the Harvard of the food industry and apparently, the school only has a 1%  acceptance  rate. Sounds exclusive! More than  275,000 franchisees and managers have graced the halls of the training campus and each has received an actual degree in Hamburgerology . I think this really shows off the tone of the company. They care about their employees but can still have a bit of fun. In a new HR employee engagement programme, McDonalds invested £35 million into training for its staff, which shows they really want to invest and retain the  best  talent. They treat employees as individuals: Due to the nature of the restaurant and the huge numbers of staff they employ, it could be easy for McDonalds to refer to colleagues as a mass of people or a number, instead of actual human beings. Due to this reason, McDonalds introduced the Meet our people campaign, which aimed to show-off the breadth of employees as talented individuals from all walks of life. This campaign was actually the first McDonalds campaign that had zero  negative feedback. Not only did this show customers that each employee is a real person, it also helped show workers that they were appreciated. They promote  gender equality: McDonalds are doing great things for the promotion of equality for females in the workplace. The number of female executives on its board has risen from 10% 2007  to 27% in 2010. They also have a  Womens Leadership Development Programme and a womens leadership network and coaching/mentoring scheme to champion female talent in the company. Its fantastic to see a large corporation promoting gender equality. Overall, it looks like McDonalds is a great place to work! What measures do you take to ensure your employees and happy and motivated in the workplace?

5 Tips to Avoid Your Cover Letter Spelling D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R

5 Tips to Avoid Your Cover Letter Spelling D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R Applying for a job is actually selling yourself for that particular position. There would be many other candidates who would try to grab that particular opportunity, but you need to distinguish yourself from the others in a way that the employer feels that you are the best candidate for the said position. For this, it is important for the applicant to write a resume cover letter, and send it along with the resume. The resume gives the employer the details of the applicant’s academics and work experience. However, the employer, if reads the complete resume, he/she would need at least 10 minutes to know everything about you. On the other hand, if you write a cover letter that summarizes your resume in a way that the employer gets a complete idea of your qualification and expertise in less than 5 minutes, is more impactful, and would lead to a positive decision in your case. The letter is aimed at simplifying the reader’s task, but if not written correctly it would rather weaken your resume as well. 1. Overuse of ‘I’ The cover letter is aimed at presenting your skills and potential and communicating to the employer of how you fit in the organizational needs. Over stressing on ‘I’, would make your letter look like an autobiography. Mention what the employer wants, and then answer how you satisfy the same. 2. Weak Opening: Beginning a cover letter is a task of responsibility. The beginning of the letter creates your first impression. This should thus be very impressive, and to the point. For example: Please consider my application for the post of Sales Team Lead â€" this is a very weak beginning. It does not differentiate you. The advertisement read that you need a Talented and Target Oriented Sales Team Lead, and I believe that I match this requirement â€" this is a better beginning as it says how you meet the organizational needs. More on your opening at How To Start Your Cover Letter with a Bang! 3. Do not fail to highlight your USP: USP â€" Unique Selling Proposition is all that your cover letter is about. It must strongly present yourself, and present your key skills that distinguish yourself. Never fail to highlight these points. In absence of this, your letter is like any other normal application letter. Write these USP’s in sync with the employer’s requirement stated in the advertisement, to make your letter more powerful. 4. Long letters: Long letters are the biggest disaster. A cover letter is aimed to save the employer’s time, and put forth your best in a precise manner. If the applicant writes a long letter that goes on for more than a page, the purpose of the letter is compromised with, and is deviated from its aim. Further reading at 5 Rules To Keep Your Cover Letter Simple and Effective. 5. Repeating your resume: While applying for the job and writing this letter, you are writing about yourself. You do not need to copy anything from the resume. You must know what you possess, and present it in a way that puts forth the best of you. If you start copying everything from your resume, it might create a bad impression on the employer and make your letter very boring. The letter should interest the employer to read your resume, and if it has exactly the same information as in your resume, it becomes monotonous. These are some basic cover letter disasters that should be avoided. These mistakes fail to create the impression you wanted to, via your cover letter. Author: Being a professional Resume writer and an advisor on how to make the job applications more impactful, Arion Barry has developed unique expertise in writing of cover letter for resumes. This is an integral part of resume writing as it makes the resume more powerful. Follow Arion on Twitter @arionbarry.

What Can Employers Ask in a Background Check

What Can Employers Ask in a Background Check Nowadays, employers are more cautious than ever when they hire new staff. Its not uncommon for them to  conduct a background check on a potential candidate to make sure that everything is in order. What  an employer wants to know about a candidate depends on the type of job they are trying to fill. Background checks can range from a verification of a candidate’s basic information, to a more in-depth checking on your background with your former employers. Here are some of the things that an employer might ask in a background check. 1. Education records. In certain professions, such as law and medicine, employers may verify the degrees, majors, dates of degrees of job candidates, to make sure that they have the right qualifications and experience  for a position. 2. Job title and description. Some employers may want to verify that the employment information you indicate on your resume is accurate.  They want to make sure that you truly have the experiences and skills that you said you have.  You can’t really blame them because some candidates tend to inflate their experience, so make sure that you are 100% truthful when writing your resume. 3. Reason for leaving a company. If you switched jobs a lot, and the work duration for each job was short, your potential employers may wonder why you switched jobs so frequently. Was it because you are hard to get along with? Or was it because you were terminated for other reasons? In order to build an idea about why you have a history of changing jobs, they may contact some of your former employers to find out why you left. 4. Credit history. For positions that deal with money or any other type of financial information, employers may do a background check on job candidates, as they do not want to hire candidates with poor credit ratings. However, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), an employer must obtain a candidate’s written consent before doing a credit check. In addition, if an employer decides not to hire a candidate based on his or her credit history, the employer must let the candidate know of the right the challenge the credit report. 5. Driving record. If a candidate is applying for a position that requires a lot of driving, the employer may check the candidate’s driving record to make sure that he or she has not committed  any previous driving offences.  If driving is involved in the role, the employer will want to know that they can trust the individual and that they are not  a reckless driver. 6. Criminal record. A lot of job applications require the applicant to declare whether or not they have a criminal record. This is particularly common for jobs such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. Before they are allowed to perform and criminal record checks, they have to obtain written consent from the candidates. Image Credit: Shutterstock