 In a previous blog post, we addressed the importance of helping your colleagues and co-workers on the job. That’s because the more that you help them, the more that you’re really helping yourself, both in your current job and quite possibly overall with your career.
However, there’s a difference between thinking that you’re a team player and knowing that you are one. After all, it’s nice to think that you are, and the idea of something is almost always better than the reality of it. You’ve heard some of the phrases that people use, including the following:
These are pleasant platitudes, but that’s all they are. They’re just words. True teamwork demands action, more specifically targeted action that has a purpose. The first step in being a team player is realize that everybody has a role to play. Nobody can fill every role, so it’s important to not only recognize the role that you play, but also the roles that other people play. The next step is realizing how these roles fit together and complement one another. Here are some questions to help you gauge how much of a team player you are:
How many of these questions are you able to answer “Yes”? All of them? Most of them? None of them? Ultimately, being a team player on the job and in the workplace setting is not easy. It requires hard work—time, energy, and effort. And it requires these things on a consistent basis. So be prepared to put in the work and the effort necessary to be the kind of team player that helps your co-workers excel and your employer be successful! 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! Feedback is important in just about every professional endeavor, and that certainly includes employment. With the right feedback, companies and organizations can make the strategic changes they need to make to provide a better experience to their employees, and in the long run, increase their rates of retention.
The problem is that some organizations do not collect feedback from their employees, and for some that do, they don’t collect enough of it or collect it consistently enough. This is a shame, though, since there are plenty of benefits and a ton of value associated with collecting employee feedback. The bottom line is that listening to your employees and asking for their feedback is one of the best things that you can do as a company, and below are three reasons why: #1—You gain valuable information. This is the whole point of collecting feedback in the first place. You gain information that you didn’t know previously but that you can use to make strategic changes to the way your organization operates. As a result, you can improve employee production, and ultimately, profit. #2—You increase employee engagement. Not only can you gain valuable information, but you can also increase engagement with your employees simply by reaching out to them and basically asking their opinion. They’re going to feel as though their opinion is valued and that they’re appreciated as employees. This reason, all by itself, should be enough to convince organizations to collect employee feedback on a consistent basis. #3—You improve employee retention. When you increase employee engagement, you also improve retention. The only thing worse than not hiring a great job candidate that you want to hire is losing a great employee because they left to pursue another employment opportunity. You can see how collecting employee feedback sets in motion a positive loop that results in better performance, higher morale, and more productivity. The bottom line is that when it comes to employee feedback, you can’t afford NOT to collect it. 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! In a previous blog post, we addressed the importance and value of helping your colleagues and co-workers in the workplace. But doing so, you brand yourself as a team player and increase the chances that you will be recognized by your boss and management.
But what about customers? Should you also be thinking about them, even if you don’t have any direct contact with them? The short answer is “Yes.” (In actuality, the longer answer is also “Yes.”) Once again, it pays to do a little visualization. For instance, think about a poor experience that you’ve had with a company, store, or vendor? How frustrated were you during that experience and how frustrated did you continue to be even after the experience was over? You were probably frustrated and annoyed to a very high degree. One of the aspects of your job is to make sure that the customers of your employer do not have that experience. Of course, you might not have any direct control over that. However, you might have direct influence, and at the very least, you have indirect influence. When you’re at work doing your job, think about how what you’re doing is ultimately going to have an impact on the employer’s customers. What can you do to help ensure that the customer has a better experience with your employer? Exceling at work is about more than just thinking about yourself. It’s even about more than thinking about yourself and thinking about your co-workers. It also involves thinking about the customer and realizing that putting the customer first is more than just a catchphrase that companies use in their attempts to grow their business. But think about it. The happier that customers are, the more successful your employer will be. And the more successful your employer is, the more successful you can be in your job. And not only that, but you will also stand out and will likely be recognized for your efforts to put the customer first in everything that you do. Even if you don’t work with them directly! 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! We probably don’t have to tell you this, but it’s difficult to hire in this current market. There are more open jobs than there are job seekers interested in finding a new job.
These challenges are even more imposing for smaller companies. That’s because large companies and organizations often have more resources and personnel to help them locate, recruit, and hire the candidates they want to hire. The key for smaller organizations is to approach the hiring process in the correct fashion. The right approach and mentality can help you to “level the playing field” in your organization’s quest to hire top job candidates. With this in mind, below are four tips for more hiring success in this market for small businesses: #1—Don’t wait for the “perfect candidate.” As an organization, you can not afford to wait for the “perfect candidate.” First of all, that type of candidate does not exist, so it doesn’t make sense to keep waiting for them to show up. If you’re looking for a list of 10 skills and you come across a candidate who has seven or eight, then it might make sense to hire them, considering the current state of the marketplace and the lack of qualified job candidates. #2—Focus on positive employer branding. As a smaller company, you must make a concrete effort to “sell” your employment opportunity and the organization to job seekers during the hiring process. Once again, larger organizations have the additional resources to brand themselves to more people in more ways. This means you must “sell” the positive aspects of your organization as much as you possibly can. #3—Always be looking for great job candidates. Even if you’re fully staffed, you should still be on the lookout for professionals who are exploring the job market and looking for other employment opportunities. What’s important is to keep networking with job seekers and potential new employees. Networking, both online and in person, is free. Not only that, but it’s also one of the top ways that a company can be competitive in this tight hiring market. #4—Move quickly and decisively. If you find a job candidate that you think you’d like to hire, then make an offer of employment. Don’t wait for “the perfect candidate” (see #1). Don’t let too much time pass or you run the risk of the job candidate dropping out of the process. Being decisive is key to successful and sustained hiring in this market. 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! Obviously, you’re not going to land a job every time that you interview. That simply is not possible. However, what you can do is ask for feedback following every interview, especially in those cases when you do not receive an offer of employment.
When you receive valuable feedback following an interview, you can use that feedback to make adjustments and improvements so you’re able to perform better in the future. And your next interview might just lead you to the job that you really want! With this in mind, below are three tips for asking for feedback following a job interview: #1—Ask for feedback in an expedient fashion. You’re certainly not going to ask for feedback as soon as the interview is over, but you don’t want to wait too long, either. The longer you wait, the less that the hiring manager and company officials are going to remember about the interview. So if you don’t get the job, you want to ask for feedback as soon as you receive notification that you did not get the job. Talking on the phone for five or 10 minutes is the best way to receive feedback, but if email is your only recourse, then it is certainly better than nothing. #2—Maintain a positive attitude. If you do talk with the hiring manager on the phone, don’t be negative. Of course, not getting the job is a negative situation, at least from your point of view. But if you strike a negative tone, the conversation is not going to last very long and you’re not going to get what you want out of it. Instead, be professional and be positive. Your goal is continuous improvement, not to “grill” the person on the reasons why you didn’t get this particular job. #3—Focus on improvement and the future. Asking for feedback and having a conversation about your job interview is not about “living in the past.” It’s about the future. Specifically, it’s about your professional future and the future of your career. So frame your questions accordingly. For example, don’t ask what you did wrong or the mistakes you made during the interview. Instead, ask the person what you can do to improve so that you can have a more successful interview in the future with another employer that just might have the perfect job for you. 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! Obviously, you want to be successful in your current job. And more than likely, you want to be successful in your career, as well.
So why would you want to contribute to the success of other people on your job? Great question . . . and we have a great answer! For starters, think about a time on the job—either in your current job or a past job—where you needed the help of a colleague or co-worker. And if you didn’t get the help that you needed, then you were at risk for failing in what you were doing. And while failure is almost never fatal, it can be a setback for you in the professional realm, specifically in the workplace. More than likely, you would have wanted some help from you colleagues and co-workers. You probably did not think to yourself, “This isn’t their job. They have their own work to do. If I fail, I fail.” Now pretend that the “shoe is on the other foot.” What if a co-worker needed help from you in order to finish a task and be successful? Would you provide that help? Consider the fact that when you help others in your job, you’re actually helping yourself. That’s because when you do so, you’re proving that you are a team player. And from the point of view of employers, including your employer, an employee who is a team player is more valuable than somebody who is not a team player. When you help other people in your current job, you increase the chances that you will get noticed by your boss and by management—and in a positive way. It could be something as simple as sharing your knowledge or experience with somebody else. In other words, just sharing something that you know that another person does not. However, you must make sure that you still get your work done. Even though helping others is a proactive way to brand yourself in a positive way, it can be counterproductive if you don’t get your work done and continue to provide the high level of value that you’ve always provided. 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’s no secret that it’s difficult to hire right now in the employment marketplace. Even with a flood of new positions following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns, employers are still having trouble finding the employees they need.
There are two main components of successful hiring:
In light of this, you can see how challenging the current market really is. Not only are some companies not able to hire employees quickly enough, but they can’t even find workers at all. This can result in organizations becoming desperate and hiring just about anybody they can find, but hiring the wrong person for the job is nearly as bad as not hiring anybody at all. With all of this firmly in mind, below are three tips for hiring new employees quickly and not losing quality in the process: #1—Focus on writing effective job descriptions. What makes a job description effective? First, it must accurately convey the duties and responsibilities of the position, but while that is important, it’s also dry. An effective job description should also have some “sizzle” that grabs the reader and makes them interested in the position. If you can’t get them interested in the job, then you won’t be able to hire them. #2—Utilize social media. If your company doesn’t have a social media presence, then it absolutely must have one. If your company does have a social media presence, then you must absolutely maximize it, especially for the purpose of generating exposure for your open positions. However, you also want to post and share content that is informative and accurately conveys the brand of your organization. #3—Use a staffing agency. As mentioned above, hiring right now is as difficult as it has been during the last several years. In addition, you probably have other tasks and duties that you must perform, in addition to hiring. That’s why it makes sense to enlist the services of an experienced and successful staffing agency, one that can help you not only hire the right people for your company, but also hire them quickly without losing quality in the process. 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! You went through the entire interviewing and hiring process and when you reached the end of it, the company offered you the job. Congratulations!
But now the real work is set to begin. That’s because you must start your new job and start it the right way. The reason for this is simple. Just as you are looking for validation that you made the correct decision in accepting this job offer, your new employer is also looking for validation that it made the correct decision in hiring you. The best way to accomplish this is by providing as much value as you can possibly can and to provide it as quickly as you can. This will help you make the best impression with your boss and co-workers. Below are four action steps for making your first week on the job a great week: #1—Be friendly and positive. This is the cornerstone of personal branding, which is the experience that you provide to other people. When you are friendly and positive, you typically provide a good experience for others and your coworkers and colleagues will want to be around you and interact with you. #2—Listen more than you talk. Your first week at your new job represents a great learning opportunity. Ideally, you want learn as much as you can in the shortest amount of time possible. And since everybody around you theoretically knows more than you do—about your new job and about the company—it makes sense to hear what they have to say. #3—Watch more than you act. This is a corollary to #2 on our list. Listen more than you talk and watch more than you act. Observe your coworkers closely to see how they approach their work and the things they do to be successful on a daily basis. After all, they’ve been working at the company longer than you have. #4—Ask as many questions as you can. Asking questions is definitely part of the learning experience on your first week on the job. While you want to make sure you ask questions that are going to help you be successful and add value quickly, you also don’t want to ask so many questions that you become an annoyance. Your questions should be targeted, practical, and productive. 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! When employers are looking to hire job seekers for their open positions, they’re looking for people who have a particular skill set and a certain amount of experience. These skills and experience constitute tangible characteristics that translate into value for the employer.
However, employers are not only assessing tangible traits and characteristics when they consider job seekers. They’re also looking for intangible traits, because those also have the potential to provide value. And when you get right down to it, the reason that companies and organizations want to hire is because they’re in need of value. Most of the time, they’re in need of multiple forms of value. However, unless you know what intangible forms of value employers are seeking, you won’t know which ones to emphasize during the hiring process. Because sometimes skills and experience are not enough to land the job, but they are enough when combined with the right set of intangible characteristics. With all of this in mind, below are four intangible traits that employers want most in job candidates: #1—Positivity A positive attitude can take you a long way, and it can do so in a number of different ways. First, people are intrinsically attracted to those who are positive in nature. Conversely, they are repelled by people who are negative or pessimistic. So it would make sense that an employer would believe a positive and friendly person would be a better cultural fit for the company. #2—Passion When somebody is positive and friendly and they’re also passionate about what they do, that’s even better! That’s because they bring a rare level of energy and excitement to their job and to the people working around them. Not only do passionate people complete their work and reach their goals, but they also “rub off” on their coworkers in a positive way. #3—Professionalism Many managers do not like to micro-manage their employees, and they don’t have the time to do so, even if they wanted to. What companies want in new employees are self-starters who don’t need to be constantly supervised so management knows that they’re actually doing their work. (And of course, if you have passion for what you’re doing, then you don’t even have to worry about this.) #5—Resiliency This might be the most important intangible trait on this list. That’s because your level of resiliency has a direct impact on your level of success, both personally and professionally. The key to being resilient is focusing on the opportunities that exist in the midst of your circumstances and not the circumstances themselves, especially if they’re negative. 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 a previous blog post, we addressed what to know about hiring members of Generation Z. But what about once you hire members of Generation Z?
Well, then you must successfully integrate them into your current team of employees. And conceivably, your employees could represent a number of different generations—Generation Z, Millennials, Generation X, and the Baby Boomers. (Although Baby Boomers are retiring by the drove on a daily basis.) Right now, there are more members of the Millennial Generation in the workforce than any other generation, and that is likely to be the case for the foreseeable future. Simply put, this is an issue that is not going away anytime soon. Below are three tactics for effectively engaging the different generations in the workforce: #1—Analyze your current personnel. This means determining exactly which generations are represented in your workforce. But it goes beyond that. You must also calculate the percentage of each generation. For example, are 50% of your employees Millennials? Is that percentage higher? What about Gen Z and Generation X? Which generations comprise the company’s management teams? #2—Identify strengths and weaknesses. Each generation has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. And while these are true across the members of a certain generation, it’s not true 100% of the time. For example, Millennials and Generation Z are both known to be tech savvy. However, it would be a mistake to assume that every member of those generations is a technology “whiz.” When considering strengths and weaknesses, you must also take into account the variables associated with individuals. For example, employees have different personalities, regardless of whether or not they’re members of the same generation. #3—Be proactive about fostering camaraderie and collaboration. Obviously, if you want to maximize productivity and profitability, then you must find a way to get the members of these different generations to work together and to work together well. However, this isn’t going to happen “all by itself.” As with most things that need to happen, an organization must be intentional in its efforts to make it happen. This means creating opportunities for the members of the different generations to work together—when it makes sense. We added that last part because you don’t want to force people together just for the sake of forcing them together. That rarely works when the people are the members of the same generation, much less different ones. The good news is that the members of every generation want the same thing--to be successful in their job and their career. And when you effectively engage them in the workforce and in the workplace, you increase the chances that they will be successful. 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! |
