 A mentor can play a very important role in growing your skills and enhancing your career.
That’s because they should be willing to provide unbiased advice and expertise in the areas in which you’re seeking to improve. While actually finding a mentor can prove to be a confusing process at times, it might be easier than you think. With that in mind, below are four steps for finding a mentor: #1—Determine your weaknesses and your goals. There’s no point in actually searching for a mentor if you don’t know exactly the areas with which you’d like the mentor to help you. If you want a particular job, list the qualities that you’ll need and identify any gaps. You’ll know where you need improvement, and it will be easier for you to search for someone who possesses the required skills. #2—Define your expectations. It might help to write them down, including the role that you’d like for your mentor to play in the growth of your career. Clarifying your expectations, goals, and objectives will help ensure that you find the right mentors and that the relationships benefit your professional goals. #3—Identify mentoring candidates. Great mentors can be found in a variety of places, so try looking outside of your current workplace. Seek out mentors at business associations in your area, non-profit organizations, your college or university, within your family, church groups, and even community groups such as business chambers of commerce. #4—Meet with your potential mentor (or mentors). You must have a good reason why you want that person to advise you. For example, if they’re a good speaker in meetings, then ask them to give you tips on presentations. You must also compliment your potential mentor. For example, you could say, “The reason that I’m hoping you’ll mentor me in this one area of my career is because I love the way you handle yourself in meetings.” Remember, you might not find everything you need in just one person. If that’s the case, think of having two or more mentors with different strengths and qualities and try to sharpen your skills even more. Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact us today to find out more about the employment opportunities that are available in your chosen field! It doesn’t matter who you are or what your title is, networking is a critical skill for professional success and career advancement.
Building powerful relationships with others in your field can help you to stand out, both as an individual and as a company. If you’re an employee or candidate, those relationships might help you to land a great new job. If you’re a hiring manager, those relationships could allow you to identify and hire the company’s next great employee—or perhaps help you find a new position, as well. So, how can you get started? Below are five tips for improving your networking skills. Tip #1—Don’t rely on your computer. Sure, (just about) everybody is participating in social media these days, and maybe you’re a LinkedIn whiz. However, the Internet will only take you so far. To truly maximize the effectiveness of networking, it will eventually have to be conducted on a face-to-face basis—in spite of the pandemic. Tip #2—Make networking an acquired behavior. For some people, networking does not come easily, and that’s okay. As with everything else, you’ll become better over time. The key is to not become discouraged to the point where you quit. However, if you’re persistent, not only will you improve, but networking will also become a habit. Tip #3—Prepare your personal “elevator pitch.” Your “elevator pitch” is your 60-second speech about who you are, what you do, and the unique value that you offer. The best way to hone this speech is to practice, practice, practice. The good news is that if you follow tip #2, you’ll already be doing this. Tip #4—Understand the people with whom you’re networking. If you’re attending a networking event, be sure to conduct some research beforehand if you can. There is usually plenty of information online about people (including on LinkedIn), and this information will better prepare you to engage them in a meaningful way. Tip #5—Pay more attention to influential contacts. Networking is like anything else: you must focus your energy on those areas most likely to provide the results you’re seeking. It’s advisable to segment your contacts into different categories based upon their influence and then interact with those groups differently in a way that makes sense. Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact us today to find out more about the employment opportunities that are available in your chosen field! In today’s challenging hiring environment, qualified job candidates are sometimes difficult to find and difficult to hire.
Just because you have a candidate in a face-to-face interview situation doesn’t mean that “you hold the cards,” so to speak. They have just as much right to determine you aren’t a fit for them as you have a right to determine they aren’t a fit for you. As we mentioned in a previous blog post, the interview is a two-way street, so make sure you stay on your side of the road. Part of doing that successfully is “painting the proper perception” during the interview. Remember that some candidates are looking for reasons to NOT work for your company, as opposed to looking for reasons to work for it. A misstep on your part can help them make a decision you don’t want them to make. With that in mind, below are three tips for “painting the proper perception” during a face-to-face interview: #1—Avoid exaggerations or generalizations. These can be perceived in an incorrect fashion, and you might not even be aware of it. Speak in specific, definable terms regarding the position, including about responsibilities, expectations, and other parameters. #2—Think of the interview from the candidate’s point of view. How would your questions sound to them? In other words, how would they perceive them? What possible misunderstandings or miscommunications could arise? It would be shortsighted to believe that thinking of these things isn’t your responsibility. #3—Don’t end the interview without gauging their perception. For certain, ask if they have any questions. Then ask about their thoughts at this stage of the process. Be sure there aren’t any misperceptions—about the position, the company, or anything else. One of the goals of a successful interview is to ensure that the candidate’s perception of the position accurately matches the reality of the position. If that goal is not achieved, it increases the chances that the candidate won’t want to work for your company. And in today’s challenging job market, if you have a good candidate who could become a good (or even great) worker, you don’t want to let them get away! Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact Time Staffing today to find out more about our placement services for employers! No job interview is flawless, but you can certainly cut down on the number of mistakes that you make, and you definitely don’t want to make any BIG mistakes.
First and foremost, a ringing cell phone is just that kind of mistake. That’s why it’s important to remember to turn your phone off before the interview begins. That will allow you to focus on making sure that you don’t “trip up” in some other way. Below are the five biggest interview mistakes and how you can avoid them: #1—Lack of research Find out as much as you can about the company and the job opening ahead of time. Useful background data may include sales volume, profit for the last several years, major products and/or services, opportunities for growth, number of employees and branches, the mission statement, corporate giving to charitable institutions, reputation and background of management, and job responsibilities. Most, if not all, of this information should be available online. Other information, such as the company's approach toward promoting from within, the job description, or the salary may require a little more digging. #2—Inappropriate dress/appearance Your appearance in the job interview is the first impression you’ll make, so show up like somebody who really wants the job. Inappropriate dress is often a major reason that a person does not receive an offer of employment. While it’s obvious that you can dress in too casual a fashion, you can also go too far in the other direction and “overdo it.” This can involve too much jewelry, too much cologne or perfume or too much makeup. #3—A perceived lack of integrity and credibility Avoid saying negative things about your previous employers. How you speak about your previous employers gives the hiring authority an idea of how you’ll speak about your next employer. In addition, some people use negative speech patterns such as “just,” “actually,” “kinda,” and “almost.” For example: “I’m just really grateful to be talking to you today.” These phrases make you come across as less confident, less authoritative, and less employable. The same goes for using disclaimers such as, “Well, I’m really not an expert on this.” People think these types of statements make them seem more likable or down-to-earth, but they undermine credibility. #4—Failure to ask good questions Ask intelligent questions about the job opportunities and the position duties, and prepare a list of these questions beforehand. Good questions provide you with the information you need to make a decision about the job, and they also impress your interviewer. The hiring manager can ascertain whether or not you’ve done your homework by what kind of questions you ask. They realize that you understand what the job requires, because you're able to discuss its potential opportunities and challenges. When you're asked if you have any questions at the end of the interview, simply shrugging and saying, “Not really” is a HUGE mistake. #5—Asking how much you’ll get paid too soon. If you don’t already know what the job pays, avoid this topic unless the interviewer brings it up first. You don’t want the employer to think that all you’re interested in is how much they pay. You may ask about salary only after several interactions and at the very end of an interview as a “curious question.” Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact us today to find out more about the employment opportunities that are available in your chosen field! At no time, especially in this current market, is the interview process a one-way street.
In other words, at no time should a job candidate’s time be considered less valuable than yours, especially if you’re having difficulty hiring the workers that you want to hire. Remember, the candidate is interviewing the company at the same time that company officials are interviewing the candidate. Below are two tips for ensuring that the interview process is a two-way street: #1—Make a connection. A common mistake is to assume that there’s urgency on the part of the candidate, that they’ll be grateful for whatever time you can give them. That might be true of those candidates who are unemployed. However, there has been a paradigm shift in the marketplace, thanks to “The Great Recession” and other factors. When you interview a good job candidate, you should strive to do more than just accurately assess their skill set and their potential for fitting into the company culture. You should also strive to make a connection with the candidate and build a sort of camaraderie or rapport with them. The reason? The candidate needs a very good reason to work for your organization. #2—Give them a good reason. As mentioned above, job seekers and candidates have the upper hand right now. Many of them have multiple job options and career opportunities. As a result, companies and organizations have some work to do, especially during the interview process. With that in mind, be sure to analyze your interview process. Are you marketing yourself to each person interviewed? Are you giving tours of your facility to those candidates who stand out from the rest? What reasons are you giving to top job candidates to convince them to take advantage of your opportunity? Your answers to these questions might just be the deciding factor in how prepared you are to tackle an employment marketplace filled with challenging conditions for employers that need workers. Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact Time Staffing today to find out more about our placement services for employers! The job interview can be a stressful experience for a lot of people, but preparing for the questions can help increase your confidence level.
Below are the five most common questions asked during an interview, including the logic behind them and how to consider answering them: #1—“Tell me about yourself.” This is typically the first question the interviewer will ask. It’s an opportunity for them to assess you as a person through what you say and how you deliver it. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so make sure you’re adequately prepared to answer this question. Above all, keep it concise. #2—“What are your weaknesses?” At first glance, this question might seem tricky. However, if you’ve thoroughly gone through the company’s profile and/or website, you’ll better understand which qualities are considered strengths and which are not. There are a few ways to answer this question. First, armed with your knowledge of which weaknesses are likely frowned upon by the interviewer, you could admit to those that are not crucial to the job requirements. Second, you could mask strengths as weaknesses. For instance, you could say that you are a very meticulous person who gets picky with details of a project. Third, you could confess to past weaknesses, but then illustrate how you triumphed over them. #4—“Why should I hire you?” Here’s where you should link your skills, experience, education, and personality to the job. This is why you need to be very familiar with the job description and the company culture. It’s possible that you may not have as much in the way of skills, experience, or qualifications as other candidates. As you explain your compatibility with the job and company, be sure to portray yourself as a motivated, confident, and energetic person. As a general rule, people are attracted to those traits. #5—“Do you have any questions for me?” This your chance to finish the interview in a strong fashion. This means not saying that you don’t have questions to ask. You absolutely must ask questions. Doing otherwise might leave the impression that you’re not exactly keen on the job. (Or at the very least, that you’re a person who does not do their due diligence.) However, don’t ask questions with obvious answers you could have discovered through research. Try to incorporate your knowledge of the industry and the company into a question that addresses a genuine concern. Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact us today to find out more about the employment opportunities that are available in your chosen field!  One of the best ways to position yourself to land a great job is to make sure that you’re in the right place at the right time—and that includes making sure that your resume is in the right place at the right time.
Those people who hire and find jobs for workers—including company officials and staffing agencies—routinely use applicant tracking systems (or ATS) to source candidates in their database for open positions. When they conduct a search for candidates in that system, they typically give priority to those candidates that come up first in the search results. As you might guess, you want to be in those search results. Below are 10 ways that you can “beat” the applicant tracking system with your resume. #1—Use generic headings, such as “Work Experience.” Using headings like “Career Achievements” or “Professional Experience” may cause the system to skip over your work experience completely. #2—Don’t limit the length of your resume. The ATS does not put a limit on how long your resume can be. If you lengthen your resume to include more work experience and credentials, there’s a better chance that the system will rank you higher. #3—Do not start your work experience section with dates. The ATS does not look for dates; it looks for the names of the employers first. Make sure to put the name of your employer first, followed by the date. #4—Do not use tables and/or graphics. The system can’t read tables and graphics, so be sure to omit them from your resume before submitting it. #5—Use relevant keywords and phrases. The system is designed to look for keywords and phrases associated with the job, so include those that might be found in the job listing. #6—Do not try to “mimic” the applicant tracking system. Keywords are important, but don’t repeat those phrases throughout your entire resume. This can make your resume look and sound clunky, and companies are not in the habit of hiring clunky employees. #7—Make your resume easy and quick to read. The system scans for keywords, but it’s still advisable that your paragraphs are clean and legible. Put plenty of spaces in between paragraphs and don’t jumble them together. #8—Research the company’s corporate culture. Researching the company’s culture gives you more of an idea of what the company is seeking. Incorporate some keywords and phrases associated with the culture into your resume. #9—Use bullet points. This helps to ensure that your resume is easy to read, since it eliminates long sentences and paragraphs. However, keep in mind that applicant tracking systems prefer asterisks. #10—Add a cover letter. Adding a cover letter is a great way to further show that you fit into the company’s culture. Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact us today to find out more about the employment opportunities that are available in your chosen field! Effective hiring is an intensive process. It requires a certain amount of time, energy, and effort. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so difficult to do.
After all, many hiring authorities and hiring managers have other responsibilities and duties. They often don’t have the time to devote fully to the acquisition of new employees. As a result, things can “fall through the cracks,” so to speak. And when you’re trying to hire the best job candidates and workers, you can’t afford for that to happen. Below are six important questions to ask about the next person that your company hires: #1—How has the job description changed since the last time we hired for this position? There’s a good chance that the last person in the role altered the job description while they were in it. Without identifying the ways in which they altered it, you run the risk of making a mis-hire. That’s because you’ll hire a candidate who matches the old job description, as opposed to the new and updated one. Consult everyone associated with the position to ascertain how the description should be changed prior to advertising it. #2—What does the ideal job candidate look like in terms of personality and soft skills? Hard skills and experience are just one side of the equation. Personality and soft skills are the other side of it. That’s because more than likely, the candidate will have to interact with other people. This includes co-workers and possibly customers. How well they interact with both groups will help determine their success. #3—What are the specific steps of your hiring process? If you haven’t identified these steps, then you increase the chances that you’ll miss a step or that there will be miscommunication between the people involved. Not only that, but it will also be more difficult to let candidates know where they stand in the process if you don’t know exactly what the steps are. Knowing the process inside and out is mandatory for generating optimal results. #6—Which members of the organization will be part of the hiring process? Knowledge of the people involved in the process is just as important as knowledge of the process itself. Not only should you know who is involved, but you should also know why each person is involved and what their individual roles are. This serves to increase the effectiveness of the communication between team members, which will lead to better decision making regarding which candidate or candidates you ultimately decide to hire. If you’re pressed for time, a staffing agency can help. An experienced staffing firm with a track record of success can help you identify and hire the workers that your organization needs to excel! Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact Time Staffing today to find out more about our placement services for employers! Few things determine whether or not you’ll receive an offer of employment as much as the face-to-face interview. This is where the “rubber meets the road,” so to speak, and if you fall short during the interview, it won’t matter what skills you possess or how much you experience you have.
You still won’t get the job. Your resume helps you “get your foot in the door,” but the interview is what allows you to walk through it. Below are 10 ways that you can sharpen your face-to-face interviewing skills and increase the chances that you’ll receive an invitation to walk through that figurative (and literal) door. #1—Be engaging. If you take the initiative and introduce yourself first, you will come off as confident and outgoing to your potential employer. #2—Keep it professional at all times. Focus only on your professional experience, even if you can respond to a question regarding your personal life. #3—“Commit” to the company. What does this mean? Act as if the job for which you’re interviewing is your dream job. (After all, maybe it is.) Be enthusiastic and focused. #4—Be thoroughly attentive. Make sure that you pay attention to every question the interviewer asks, because every response matters, no matter how trivial you might think it is. #5—Be positive. Do not answer any question in a negative fashion, even if the answer itself is not a positive one. Companies want employees with a positive attitude. #6—Never discuss salary or benefits. It’s always a good idea to make sure you have the job first before talking about your wages. Don’t bring up the subject of money or other compensation. #7—Maintain good body language. Do not slouch; sit upright and look attentive. Make sure you look interested in what the interviewer has to say. #8—Keep jokes to a minimum (and keep them appropriate). You do not know your interviewer’s particular sense of humor, so you might offend him or her if you try to lighten the mood with a joke. If you do crack a joke, be 100% sure of its appropriateness. #9—Think first before you answer a question. It’s okay to take a few seconds to make an educated statement before responding. This is your interview, so don’t feel rushed when making your statements. #10—Weave your achievements into your answers. When answering questions, mention specific achievements if they pertain to the question asked. Use examples and real-life scenarios in which you went above and beyond the call of duty. Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact us today to find out more about the employment opportunities that are available in your chosen field! Hiring the right people is always a big concern for companies and organizations. After all, making a mis-hire can be extremely costly in terms of time, energy, resources, and money.
Hiring is an investment, and you want to earn a return on that investment. The best way to do that is to hire solid job candidates who offer a lot of value, make numerous contributions to the organization, and ultimately boosts its bottom line is a big way. That’s why the size and the depth of the talent pool from which you draw your candidates is perhaps the single biggest factor affecting the quality of your hires. As you might imagine, if you want to hire the best job candidate possible for an open position, you must make sure of the following two things:
What’s the difference between the two? In terms of a wide talent pool, that means drawing quality talent from as many different places as you can. This can refer to geographical regions or to sourcing methods. In terms of a deep talent pool, that reflects how many quality candidates you’re able to identify. In other words, you want both a diverse talent pool of quality candidates and you want a high volume of quality candidates. That’s the best possible outcome. Some might call it an unrealistic outcome, but it’s what employers should strive for. It should be their ultimate hiring objective. However, do you believe that every single person who starts to fill out an online job application actually finishes the application? Of course not. That’s unrealistic. Many online applications are not easy. They’re cumbersome and time-consuming. They can even be confusing. When that’s the case, candidates are likely to simply close their Internet browser and look elsewhere for possible employment opportunities. When you factor this into the equation, it shrinks the size of your talent pool even more. Now your talent pool consists of only candidates who are actively looking for a new job and who successfully made it to the end of your online application. Does that sound like a talent pool that is both wide and deep? Sadly, it does not. This is why using an experienced staffing agency with a track record of success helps to “cover all the bases” when it comes to hiring. A trusted organization like Time Staffing has not just the experience necessary, but we also have the connections. So contact us to today to find out how we can help your company hire the best workers and employees! Last year, Time Staffing won ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and candidates. ClearlyRated's Best of Staffing Award is the only award in the United States and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service and quality based entirely upon ratings provided by their clients and job candidates. Time Staffing received satisfaction scores of 9 out of 10 or 10 out of 10 from 75.4% of their placed talent, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 45%. Contact Time Staffing today to find out more about our placement services for employers! |
