Contacting The Alder Group for Employment
Thank You for Your Interest
We very much appreciate the time and effort required to research suitable employment opportunities and prepare a thoughtful submission. The process is certainly not easy and we respect that. However, as we receive several inquiries, we are not able to take the time to get back yo everyone or meet with them individually. What we will do however, is commit to reviewing the information you provided and, if we feel there is a possible 'fit’ between our needs and your background, skills and interests, we will get in touch with you to schedule a call or a meeting.
In the case where we feel there may not be an obvious match, we will nonetheless retain your information for a minimum of 90 days (often longer), in case something comes up. After this period, if you have not heard back from us, feel free to contact us again. We suggest you periodically visit our site for future opportunities and to get a feel for our culture and the services we offer. Independent consultants interested in sub-contracting opportunities through The Alder Group are encouraged to contact us as well.
The information that follows provides a brief overview of our staffing philosophy. We hope you find it insightful.
What We Look For
The Alder Group takes a ‘client first’ approach to services delivery. We focus on identifying client needs (in fact often helping them identify and express their needs), understanding the challenges they face, and finding innovative, practical, effective solutions to meet these needs. We also want people focused on quality. This however we cannot ask for from an individual – it must come from within. Anyone can say they are committed to quality and to meeting and exceeding our expectations, but we need to see it. This is much less what one does than how one does it. It is an approach if you will – a philosophy.
We also need people to be able to think strategically write well and do what they say they will. We can teach associates our internal processes and approaches, but they need to have critical thinking skills, as well as writing skills. A well structured but simple CV with no typos is a ‘must have’ make a great first impression, so be sure to review yours carefully.
Know Thyself
Tell us who you are and what you really want to do and what you honestly feel you are great at. What is your one Unique Ability? Use lay language and tell us, but stay professional as well. We don’t get impressed with technical jargon or business-speak. We value eloquence, but not fancy words that are misused and certainly not in run-on sentences. Don’t feel the need to tell us you can do it all – no one can do everything well. So don’t worry about leaving out one skill from your CV; it won’t be the one thing that will make you lose out against other candidates. If you are a decent, but not a strong writer, please tell us. If you’re great at creating and working within systems, or at things such as filing, but not great at proposal writing or synthesis research, this is not a fault. It means you know yourself. Such honesty goes much farther than having us find this out on our own, after a long process.
People can learn and need to be open to learning, but you also need to know what you bring to the table. What you are good at. What you enjoy doing and feel satisfaction from doing. Everyone has something they do really well and are better at than the average person. Tell us what that is for you. If you think about it, many people spend their entire lives trying to find out what they are meant to do, what they do really well and even what they enjoy doing! A couple of good sources of information you might wish to consult are listed below.
Now Discover Your Strengths
One in a series of interesting books by the same author, Now Discover Your Strengths is particularly insightful in helping people determine what their strengths are. After chapter three and before reading further, you are directed to the inside of the cover sleeve where you will find a printed code that lets you access an online questionnaire. A brilliant idea. After you receive your results (instantly) you then read on in the book to interpret them. Do it and discover your strengths for yourself. Then use these in your CV (and your interview) to demonstrate how well you know yourself.
Determining Your Kolbe Profile
Cathy Kolbe has gone way beyond IQ testing and focuses her efforts on Conative Thinking. Unlike personality or so-called intelligence tests, Kolbe tests have been demonstrated to be truly reliable to help people determine ‘how’ they work – their ‘modes of operation’. What are your natural instincts when faced with an issue, an assignment or a problem? Are you a detailed fact-gatherer? Do you go on gut or analyze when you make a decision? Are you more “Quick Start” than “Follow Through”? Different job profiles benefit from different Kolbe profiles. You’ll learn a lot about how you are pre-programmed, and thus, what tasks are ideally suited for you. Apparently, your Kolbe profile does not change over your lifetime. It can also confirm what you always suspected in yourself, which can be very reassuring when trying to find the right career path. At The Alder Group, we think that tailoring rigid job descriptions to better suit someone’s Kolbe is much wiser that fitting a square peg in a round hole.
We hope you find these tips are useful. Good luck with your search and again, we very much appreciate your interest in The Alder Group.
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