Have you ever been in that situation that… you just don’t know? For me, it has always depended on the attitude of the others, so it has never felt like much of a problem – except of course, that one time. That one time it didn’t feel natural, other people were undecided, so, what did I do? I took decisions. I consequently was thinking about it for the rest of the meeting. Which in turn, made me doubt about my input and the final outcome. Point said – it doesn’t hurt to go into a meeting with some inside knowledge, you never know when it may come in handy.

Suggested extra work: where do you usually sit and why? Does it fit into the scheme of things outlined in this video?

I’ve always said that I’d hire anybody who has McDonald’s on their cv, before other candidates, and possible more qualified candidates. The work ethics are just incredible there! With so many viral videos of unhappy employees in other fast food chains, I guess I mistakenly put them into the same category. Mistake – big mistake.

This article interviews three previous employees of the popular food chain – and you’ll be pleasantly surprised! Each headline COULD HAVE BEEN a problem – and it wasn’t!

Anyways – a big fat thumbs up to McDonalds! Congratulations.

Click here to go to the original article.

Suggested homework: write an interview with an ex-employee of your company – how would THAT go? OR – better yet, perhaps of a previous company 😉

Have a great day.

I typed: training manager financial industry into google and this is what I got. Quite different job descriptions. However, I particularly liked how it was done.
What do you think the job descriptions are for?
Would you post something similar, or vastly different?
These jobs are in Canada, and there is a constant: quite clear and concise, and all the while, they are selling their company to the potential candidates. Which brings me to think that, even though the jobs are demanding – that is not a down point, quite the opposite.
• Do any of these positions attract you?
• Any questions as to vocabulary?
• Can you guess the suggested homework?
Yes! Go ahead and write a job description for your job – and if you are too shy for that – choose a job and write a classified ad for it.
Click for original job ads (and the answers to some of my questions).

XXX

Essential Duties:
Approaches, greets, and offers assistance or direction to any customer who enters the dealership showroom or sales lot.
Greets customers politely and courteously when presented by salespersons on turnover.
Reviews all figures agreed upon between the customer and the sales department.
Discloses and/or confirms figures with the customer and discusses payment options.
Assists customers in selecting insurance and protection products or accessories for their vehicle.
Explains fully product performance, application, and benefits to customers.
Describes all accessory equipment available for customer purchase or lease add-on.
Reviews and verifies credit application information/credit reports and determines customer’s credit worthiness.
Works with lenders to structure loans according to customer needs and lender’s guidelines.
Prepares all paperwork required to complete the lease/purchase transaction including all registration forms, finance/lease contracts, licensing documentation, pre-delivery work orders, purchase orders, special parts arrangements and other documents required by provincial and federal regulatory agencies.
Ensures each customer fully understands the terms of their purchase/lease agreement.
Exhibits high level of commitment to customer satisfaction.
Knows and understands the federal, provincial, and local laws which govern retail automobile sales.
Establishes personal income goals that are consistent with dealership standards of productivity, and devises a strategy to meet those goals.
Attends product and sales training courses as requested by sales manager.
Keeps abreast of new products, features, accessories, etc., and their benefits to customers.
Knows and understands equity and values, and is able to explain depreciation to the customer.
Ensures that the sales manager reviews all completed deal files.
Answers questions that may arise from a purchase/lease transaction and provides documentation, if necessary, to the Vehicle Sales Clerk or Sales Manager.
Follows up on all post-delivery items, tag/title work, «we-owes», and special requests to be sure that all customer expectations are met.
Maintains an owner follow-up system that encourages repeat and referral business and contributes to customer satisfaction.
Maintains a monthly sales log to track and monitor sales volumes, penetrations and gross averages as established by the General Manager.
Reviews and analyzes actions at the end of each day, week, month, and year to determine how to better utilize time and sales techniques more effectively.
Attends all training and sales meetings.
Maintains professional appearance.
Responds to all pages in a timely manner.

Financial Services Manager in Training
North Vancouver, BC
Apply Now
Please note that training will take place in North Vancouver. Upon completion, you will be placed in a branch within the North Vancouver/Vancouver Downtown market.

As a XXX, you will:
Be a key member of a collaborative and versatile branch team
Proactively engage with customers to identify their needs using the bank’s tools and your understanding of the customer.
Advise customers, offering financial solutions and products to meet their everyday banking, investment and lending needs
Help customers find new and alternate ways to bank with us by offering convenience and valuing their time.
Take the initiative and find creative approaches to enhancing the customer experience
Collaborate with various XXX partners and identify referral opportunities to further grow the customer relationship.
Keep up to date with the wider marketplace and regulatory environment, including operations, legal and ethical requirements.
It starts with listening

At XXX Group, the customer is always front and centre. We help them navigate a financial world that becomes more complex by the day. That means we ask more of our XXX Managers than ever before. You will need to get to know our business quickly and be fast on your feet, contributing to a flexible team that’s focused on keeping us competitive and customer focused. But underlying it all is your ability to build rapport with our customers and offer them personalized service. We’ll look to you to understand and anticipate their individual needs and shape our service to meet them.

Qualifications

Qualifications

Your passionate commitment to customer service will be matched by:

Experience in a consultative customer service or sales role, with a drive to deliver solutions
Good knowledge of lending, investment and partner relationships – ideally supported by an IFIC qualification (or equivalent) lending qualification
A focus on results and the ability to thrive in a sales environment
Readiness to collaborate and work in different capacities as part of a team
Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to build rapport and manage business relationships
An aptitude for solving problems, and responding flexibly and creatively to new challenges
A different kind of banking

We’re the XXX. Our vision is to be the XXX that defines great customer experience. After all, money is personal, and a XXX should be too – we’re people first and XXX second. And we care about our employees, our customers and the people in our communities. So whether you’re starting out in your career or looking for a change, XXX offers a range of possibilities for you to develop your potential to the fullest. You will get to know our business quickly, your ideas will be heard and your potential will always be recognized. Join us, and you will be part of a true team, collaborating with people who will help you build an exciting, solid career at XXX.

Our Values – Who We Are: Our four values define who we are. They guide us past the easy thing to the right thing;

Integrity: Do what’s right.
Diversity: Learn from Difference.
Empathy: Put others first.
Responsibility: Make tomorrow better.
XXX Group is committed to an inclusive, equitable and accessible workplace. By embracing diversity, we gain strength through our people and our perspectives.

We’re here to help

At XXX we have a shared purpose; we put the customer at the centre of everything we do – helping people is in our DNA. For 200 years we have thought about the future—the future of our customers, our communities and our people. We help our customers and our communities by working together, innovating and pushing boundaries to bring them our very best every day. Together we’re changing the way people think about a XXX.

As a member of the XXX team you are valued, respected and heard, and you have more ways to grow and make an impact. We strive to help you make an impact from day one – for yourself and our customers. We’ll support you with the tools and resources you need to reach new milestones, as you help our customers reach theirs. From in-depth training and coaching, to manager support and network-building opportunities, we’ll help you gain valuable experience, and broaden your skillset.

XXX is committed to an inclusive, equitable and accessible workplace. By learning from each other’s differences, we gain strength through our people and our perspectives. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

XXX
Apply Now
The XXX, will lead a team to ensure the use of best practice instructional techniques in the design, development and delivery of training programs that engage and motivate learners to achieve the desired national outcomes. A successful candidate will be an innovative leader who is passionate about learning and a champion for the culture of learning. Responsibilities include:

Key results from this role include improved engagement scores, elevated customer satisfaction metrics and knowledge growth evident through key performance indicators for the Online XXX business.

Responsibilities

Training content & delivery-40%

Establishes and builds overall strategy for training program content, delivery, continuous improvement and sustainment
Works closely with business partners to develop strong understanding of business requirements and assess learning needs to build correct programs
Partners with L&D Business partners on development of full training program lifecycle
Design and implement learning solutions that demonstrate best practices in adult learning principles – keeps current with innovative and leading-edge technologies in learning trends and developments
Actively seeks feedback and input from key stakeholders
Conduct regular and timely assessments of trainer skills (completion reports, participant stats) to ensure consistency across all programs and build continuous improvements through feedback and coaching
Connect training delivery to business results and reinforce link to hold team accountable for successful delivery
Ensures team is accurately assessing store effectiveness through observations and training scorecards; team can identify gaps and identify needs regionally to target correct solutions for business improvement
Project Management: 60%

Establishes and builds overall strategy for training program content, delivery, continuous improvement and sustainment
Manage a team of training specialists and coordinators, setting clear priorities and expectations that align to the overall Operation Teams’ objectives and key results, and enable their teams’ success through coaching, training and continuous feedback.
Builds strong working relationships, processes and communications with key XXX team members to ensure cross team alignment.
Supports roll out of new locations & programs, collaborating with operations team members on needs, requirements and financial planning for refurb costs
Build and maintain colleague engagement programs to create brand loyalty with all XXX colleagues as well as store teams
Measures the store adherence to programs, effectiveness of implementation and continues to refine processes and strategies for optimal results
Identify and plan for new methods and technologies that increase colleague knowledge and build program awareness and understanding to field ops management teams

Job Qualifications

Completion of a Bachelor’s degree (BA, BCom) or similar is required
5 or more years of management experience, ideally leading a remote team
Experience working with senior level leadership
Adapts positively to ambiguity and high degree of proactive “hands-on” critical thinking and mobilizing actions
Excellent communication skills and ability to influence and lead individuals towards business goals
Ability to self-organize multiple tasks well and to complete them on time with a clear focus on quantitative results
Strong presentation, organizational and project management skills required
Expert in learning principles and practices
Ability to build strategic plans laddering up to overall Business Objectives
Ability to work collaboratively and influence groups towards common goals
Willingness to travel
Valid license

How You’ll Succeed:
At XXX, we seek great people to continually strengthen our culture. We believe great people model our values, are authentic, build trust and make connections.

We’re able to keep innovating because our colleagues are passionate about their work and excited about the future of eCommerce.

If you have big ideas, undeniable enthusiasm, and thrive in a collaborative, creative, and diverse group, we’ll get along just fine.

Looking for a challenge? Good. Love an innovative work environment? Even better.

Apply today.

Employment Type:
Full time

Type of Role:
Regular
XXX recognizes Canada’s diversity as a source of national pride and strength. We have made it a priority to reflect our nation’s evolving diversity in the products we sell, the people we hire, and the culture we create in our organization. Accommodation is available upon request for applicants with disabilities in the recruitment and assessment process and when hired.

In addition, we believe that compliance with laws is about doing the right thing. Upholding the law is part of our Code of Conduct – it reinforces what our customers and stakeholders expect of us.

I’ve got a few questions for you.  As far as I know the term “Human Resources” is becoming extinct.  Now the titles are much more open.  So – suffice to say, just the title of this Ted Talk caught my eye.  As I listened, I noticed that this speaker is an excellent speaker for ESL students – well paced, great intonation, and her talk is rich in basic, useful vocabulary.

I think in Spain we’ve come a long way in a short time in the Human Resource departments.  Not so long ago, it was quite common that companies with less than 150 employees didn’t even count on such a department.  Now, it’s quite common to have divisions within.  Everything she says, obviously makes absolute sense, I agree with her 100%, it just feels like she is preaching to the choir.  I’m not sure who Mary Schaefer was thinking of when she prepared this speech, but somehow, I don’t picture any of my clients in her crowd.  What do you think? 

Suggested homework:

Take the transcript (direct from the source) and add the punctuation.  TRY and do so as she is speaking.  It’s a bit of a challenge, but if you stop the video once in a while, it’s possible and I’m sure that you are up to the challenge.

Putting the human back into human resources | Mary Schaefer | TEDxWilmington

00:03

who here has heard the term human

00:08

resources

00:11

who here has used the term human

00:15

resources who here thinks they know what

00:22

the term human resources means yeah many

00:29

times

00:30

when we talk about human resources we’re

00:33

talking about that function in an

00:35

organization that handles the people’s

00:37

stuff right and what I’m here to talk to

00:40

you about today in putting the human

00:43

back into human resources I’m here to

00:46

talk to you about infusing more humanity

00:49

back into the workplace for those human

00:53

beings who happen to be employees you’re

00:57

going to hear me today use the word

00:58

humanely a lot and when I have

01:01

conversations with people about this

01:03

subject that word often gets fed back to

01:05

me as humanely and so let me be really

01:09

clear on what I mean by humanely versus

01:13

humanely to me when employers are

01:16

treating employees humanely they’re

01:19

providing them bathroom breaks and water

01:22

fountains to me for employers to treat

01:27

employees humanely it’s to address the

01:31

very human needs such as the need to be

01:34

appreciated the need to belong and the

01:39

need to feel like you’re making a

01:40

meaningful contribution now what what

01:43

does that look like twenty years ago I

01:47

worked at a chemical plant in West

01:48

Virginia and I was a project team leader

01:52

implementing a module of SA P software

01:56

some of you may have heard of it it was

01:58

the raw materials module and many of the

02:00

people on my team were shop floor

02:02

employees that means they were the

02:04

people on the shop floor handling the

02:07

chemicals and one of them came to me and

02:10

asked me if I would help him develop so

02:13

he could advance he wanted to get

02:15

promoted and I was thrilled to hear this

02:18

now this is interesting because at the

02:21

same time at this point in time shop

02:24

floor employees were not viewed as

02:27

people who had hopes and dreams and who

02:32

wanted to learn and grow and so I was

02:36

more than glad to help him I talked with

02:39

his supervisor he didn’t report directly

02:41

to me and I got his supervisors

02:43

permission and at the same time I made

02:47

the same offer to anyone else on my team

02:50

who was interested in developing and

02:52

growing in order to advance and three

02:56

more people took me up on that now let’s

03:00

fast forward a few years three out of

03:03

those four people got promoted into

03:06

exempt positions one started traveling

03:10

the world as an SI P consultant another

03:13

became a supervisor and a third became a

03:17

highly valued SI P resource within his

03:20

division that third one is particularly

03:23

close to my heart because when I started

03:26

at that chemical plant

03:27

he was sweeping the floors in my

03:29

building now you might be wondering Mary

03:34

what did you do you know I didn’t really

03:37

do anything fancy that you couldn’t find

03:40

in any management book I think what I

03:43

might have done a little differently was

03:46

I believed in these people and when

03:49

human beings are treated in a way that

03:52

they are capable of more they rise to

03:55

the occasion

04:01

so that was a nice story right and is

04:04

there really there’s a problem here Mary

04:06

that needs a remedy yes there is the

04:09

Gallup Organization among other things

04:12

the Gallup Organization studies

04:14

corporations employment and employee

04:17

engagement and in their 2013 report on

04:22

the state of the American workforce they

04:25

tell us that 70% of the American

04:29

workforce is disengaged with 20%

04:33

described as actively disengaged

04:41

that’s a whole lot of human beings who

04:44

are not getting their needs met such as

04:46

the need to be appreciated

04:48

the need to belong and the need to be

04:51

making a meaningful contribution I’ve

04:56

been in business for years now and when

04:59

it comes to putting meeting human needs

05:02

as I’m describing them to you as a

05:04

priority

05:05

it just it tends to take a back seat and

05:08

I find that curious because when any of

05:13

us are stewards of an asset like a car

05:16

we wouldn’t think of not giving a car

05:19

what it needs denying a car what it

05:22

needs in order to work at peak

05:24

performance why would we treat our human

05:27

resources any other way again this isn’t

05:32

just a nice story that I’m telling you

05:34

and a nice idea treating more people

05:36

humanely it has bottom-line business

05:40

impact researchers have shown that when

05:45

human needs are met for employees at

05:49

work the more they are met the higher

05:51

the engagement engagement meaning that

05:56

people want to be there and they are

05:58

they were willing to go the extra mile

06:01

even when nobody is looking higher

06:03

engagement has been positively

06:05

correlated to increased profitability

06:09

what’s that worth to us well here’s one

06:12

thing I know again that Gallup that

06:15

Gallup study I was describing they also

06:18

tell us that through unskilled and

06:23

unqualified managers at work they’re

06:27

impacting their organizations by 450

06:32

billion to five hundred and fifty

06:34

billion dollars worth of productivity

06:38

annually by undermining employee

06:42

engagement

06:44

yes that was billion with a B but I’m

06:47

not here to spout statistics to you

06:49

today I want

06:51

talk to you about what any of you hear

06:53

in here listening to me today can do

06:57

about this and I understand if you may

07:00

be having a reaction something like this

07:02

Mary if you think that I’m going to

07:04

impact some big organization that is way

07:08

over my head that’s got to come from the

07:10

top down or you might simply be thinking

07:14

Mary you can’t make people who don’t

07:16

already value people suddenly value

07:19

people and you know what I get that what

07:23

I want to ask you today is to let your

07:25

own experience guide you and I want you

07:29

to take a moment to think about a time

07:32

at work when you were made to feel good

07:35

or you made someone else feel good I

07:39

have a friend who told me he had a

07:42

manager who used to check in with him

07:44

every day and he really meant it this

07:48

man remembers this from 20 years ago you

07:52

can have that kind of impact on people I

07:54

have a friend who has a colleague who

07:56

brings her coffee to her desk

07:58

occasionally he tells her is because she

08:01

looks like she needs it she says it

08:04

makes her feel someone noticed me I

08:08

belong I’m seen and you can do this even

08:13

if you’re not in the workforce I stood

08:16

in a grocery line one time and as a

08:18

disgruntled customer in front of me

08:21

moved away I told the cashier she had

08:24

handled him really well and by the

08:27

expression on her face I saw that she

08:30

felt seen and appreciated and that’s all

08:34

we really want as human beings is to be

08:37

seen we are feeling beings we want to

08:41

feel appreciated like we belong and like

08:44

we can make a difference you don’t have

08:49

to be a project manager like I was in

08:52

order to believe in someone so what I

08:57

want to ask you today is to make a

09:00

commitment with me to take a take the

09:03

responsibility to

09:04

honor someone’s worth at work and I know

09:09

this is not just a commitment that I’m

09:11

suggesting this doesn’t happen suddenly

09:13

but it’s also a journey and through your

09:16

journey I hope you come to see this

09:18

vision in action and see is bring its

09:21

power to reality thank you

There are always predictions of what is most likely to happen in the upcoming year – what do you think of what happenned last year? As far as I understand, the economic field is the most advanced with their technological trends.

Watch this video and let me know your thoughts!

Click to original article

One tradition that came about while I was already living in Spain – and never fully understood.- THE ELF ON THE SHELF?  Can anybody explain that to me? How in the world could that tradition even begin??  eeks.

All of a sudden I started seeing all of these pictures on my friends facebook profiles – of these little spies that they invited into their homes!  The message to the kids – beware, eyes are upon you.  I thought that this was just horrible… like having an official tattle tale.  Well – after doing a bit of investigation, it’s not sooooo bad.

Most people use it in a fun, comical way, and now I’ve come to see it as a way of having more fun – a less commercial part of Christmas.

My question for you:

What are your thoughts on the topic? Would you use one?  Do you have any elves in your house?

 

After speaking with some of our students in the economic sector, it was brought to my attention that a topic of interest is the SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS set out by the UN.  Although Number 1 is to end poverty, this week has been an interesting week for climate change, as none other than Sir David Attenborough spoke on the behalf of the people at United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Katowice, Poland.

There is an ACT NOW bot, set up through Facebook, with active suggestions for participants on how they can help out. Find it in the link below.

Click here for the article from the UN (links to bot, video, original source).

This is quite a controversial topic in some circles. There are quite a few sceptics, official sceptics. It is an excellent source of information for language learners, as you may select levels and or topics.  Follow this link to view how each of the 200 arguments is debunked.

My question for you:

• What would your answer be to any of the sceptic comments?  My favourite is number 9:  It hasn’t warmed since 1998.  Is that even a question?
• Can individuals really do anything useful to help influence the future of our world insofar as climate change?  Comment on it!