Rising Above the Noise – Friday Distraction
(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at Kronos, the global leader in delivering workforce management solutions in the cloud. Be sure to check out the Top Five Workplace Trends for 2016 from The Workforce Institute at Kronos. Enjoy the post!)
There’s a measure in science called the signal-to-noise ratio (abbreviated SNR or S/N.) It compares a signal to the level of background noise. In our technology driven world, it’s come to also mean the ratio of useful information to irrelevant data. For example, you might hear that a social media platform has a lot of noise, meaning it’s more worthless data and less valuable conversation.
When we talk about noise from a business perspective, it might be tempting to think it’s only marketers pushing out information about their product or service and not engaging with customers. Large volumes of job seekers can create noise as well. Today’s Time Well Spent from our friends at Kronos reminded me of the challenges job seekers face making their resume rise above the noise.
When we’re looking for a new opportunity – as a candidate or a marketer – we need to make sure our message stands out in the crowd. The best way to do that is by being ourselves – authentic, transparent, and true to our brand. Following the cool kids or trend du jour doesn’t make a person’s or an organization’s special talents stand out. In fact, it could do quite the opposite.
While we’re only a few weeks into 2016, it’s pretty obvious that this year will be all about rising above the noise. Whether that’s letting customers know about your unique product or service that can help their business or the very talented candidate who can work at your organization. But it’s also about the opposite – finding the company that can help your business grow to the next level or the employee that has the skills your company needs for the future.
It might seem frustrating to search for a paperclip in a pile of paper, but what you’re really looking for is the signal in a sea of noise. And both players – the company and the candidate – need to be equally focused on the signal to successfully find each other.
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