You’re Almost There: How to Get a Job – Even if You’re Missing a Qualification

You see a position that you think you’d be a great fit for. You look at the job description, mentally checking off where the required skills align with your own…and then you see something listed that you simply don’t have experience with. What now? Some will tell you that you may as well not even bother, but if a small qualification is all that’s between you and a great job, you can take a few steps to remedy the situation:

Accentuate the positives.

Focus on the 85 percent of the skills you do have for the job by putting them front and center on your resume – specifically, in a skills summary at the top so they stand out immediately. When writing your work history, play up job duties and achievements that utilized those same skills. You may even consider creating a “T” cover letter, with the required skills on the left side and your qualifications on the right, matching them up to show how and when you have met or gone beyond what your employer wants. And make sure you have your skills listed on your LinkedIn profile under the Skills section (and see if you can get fellow LinkedIn connections to endorse them for you).

In preparing for the interview, be ready to answer questions about your skills and how you have used them, as well as how you would use them in the position you’re interviewing for.

Eliminate the negative.

You can’t get around not having a skill, but you can strongly make the point that you’re working on it currently. In your skills summary on your resume, write that you are “actively acquiring abilities in X” so those skills register on the keyword software that many companies use to weed out underqualified resumes. Next, make that statement true: Before the interview, learn as much as possibe about that skill using YouTube instructional videos, reading informational articles, and putting the skill into practice, if practical.

So now, when you go to the interview, you can demonstrate your knowledge on, and plan of action for, the missing skill, and you’ll sound like you have a working knowledge of it.

These tips can certainly help you, but it also helps to remember in the end that if you’ve done all you can and still don’t get hired, those doing the hiring may simply want exact qualifications, and that’s out of your control. Doing as much as possible and demonstrating learned and applied knowledge can still show an interviewer your work ethic and determination to do well, and that may land you the job. For additional help with crafting this sort of resume and finding the right fit for you, go to PrideStaff and work with their qualified staff.

Exhibiting True Thankfulness in the Workplace

A national survey conducted by the John Templeton Foundation of over 2,000 individuals found that the workplace is the least likely place where people will show gratitude. Additionally, over 70 percent of employees admit that they rarely express gratitude to their boss; however, those same employees would like their supervisors to show their gratitude to them. The same percentage of employees state that their morale would improve, and over 80 percent claimed that they would work harder if their supervisors expressed more gratitude.

The researchers found that groups who developed a culture of saying thank you to co-workers experienced less stress, more satisfaction with life, and fewer headaches and illnesses. Greater Good of the University of California provides some scientifically-tested suggestions for improving your workplace culture.

Managers and supervisors must set the example. According to the Templeton survey, 35 percent of respondents believed that expressing gratitude left them feeling vulnerable. If management shows a willingness to be vulnerable, employees are more likely to follow suit.

Gratitude is more likely to be adopted culturally if it is incorporated into policies and procedures. New and existing staff can be asked how they would like to be thanked; departing staff should be given a goodbye party and their contributions celebrated. Staff meetings and performance reviews can all include an element of gratitude.

Most organizations have employees or staff who are often overlooked, yet their contribution is vital. For example, office cleaners, accounting staff, and cafeteria staff rarely receive any recognition. Public appreciation of everybody can broaden perspectives and promote trust. The Greater Good suggests that gratitude can mitigate interpersonal conflict. A supervisor who intervenes and expresses gratitude to both parties may find that each party comes to realize the worth of the other.

One idea to promote gratitude is a social media website where staff can post a note of thanks to other colleagues. Providing coffee or doughnuts to the office is a generous gesture. Supervisors could treat staff to lunch or give staff paid time off to show their appreciation.

Looking for Additional Resources for Your Career?

We have the experienced recruiters on hand to assist you with your career growth and development. Contact a PrideStaff Las Vegas recruitment professional today!

Don’t Let the Holiday Season Impede Your Job Search

You may be inclined to suspend your job search during the holiday season on the theory that no one will be hiring from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day.

Big mistake!

On the contrary, this could be an optimal time to gain an advantage, while other job seekers are distracted or taking some time off. Moreover, many companies budget on an annual basis and are pressing meet year-end deadlines and be fully staffing come January 1. Hiring managers report that it’s not uncommon for key decision makers to be called in during their year-end vacations to meet with short-listed job candidates.

For those who persist in their job hunt during November and December, additional opportunities that arise may be well worth the effort. Here’s how to make it happen:

Use the Holidays as an Ice Breaker

If you do land an interview at this time of year, holiday topics are an easy way to break the initial awkwardness of meeting someone for the first time. You can chat about how busy it is at the mall, making airline reservations or the hottest gift items and local events.

Seasonal Events are Great Networking Opportunities

Don’t hesitate to accept those holiday invitations – and use get-togethers and functions as venues to mention your career search. Valuable connections can happen in even the most unlikely places.

If you know someone who works or has a contact at one of your target employers, make a point of reaching out to them. Approach them at an event, call them, or send a culturally-appropriate holiday card.
This is a great time to reestablish old connections. Get back in touch with former bosses, coworkers, roommates, school buddies, neighbors, church members and others. Think of people you genuinely like and have lost touch with in recent months or years. Track them down via social media or other means and reestablish your relationship.
Use your downtime wisely. If you have vacation time to use up, schedule informational interviews or networking meetings. But also take time for yourself. Relax, reconnect with loved ones, and balance your personal and professional commitments so you can truly enjoy the season.

As 2014 winds down, why not start your New Year’s career resolution early and call a recruiter from PrideStaff Modesto? We’ll partner with you so you can treat yourself to a great holiday gift: the prospect of landing your ideal job. Can you think of a better way to enjoy the season?

Don’t Let the Holidays Hinder Your Job Search

The holidays are often a frustrating time for job seekers. Hiring managers and recruiters can be more focused on completing administrative year-end paperwork than on recruiting. However, John Rossheim of Monster claims that the end of the year may also provide a window of opportunity for job seekers. The candidate pool all but disappears at this time under the assumption that a job search will not be fruitful. Consequently, hiring managers may struggle to fill positions during the holidays.

Lindsay Olson of US News suggests some reasons why you should not abandon your job search as the holiday season approaches.

Seasonal or temporary jobs abound in industries such as retail and hospitality at this time of year. Partnering with a staffing firm or accepting temporary work could lead to full-time employment. At the very least, it can provide work experience and income.
The New Year is often a new start. Companies may have recruitment targets that are not fulfilled by the end of the year. Submitting an application at this time may mean that your resume receives more attention and consideration than it would at another time of year.
Andrew Streiber of Careercast recommends taking advantage of holiday parties and social events. Adopt a cheerful demeanor and network. Spread the word that you are job seeking. Prepare a 30-second elevator pitch that succinctly describes what you do and your desired role.
Update your online presence such as your LinkedIn profile. Include all your experience to date and check it for errors. If you identify a company of interest, search your networks for a contact who may be able to refer you. Traditional front-door application approaches take a long time and are often ineffective. Most jobs are filled by word-of-mouth before they ever hit the job boards.
To pre-empt the candidate search by employers. Send out holiday cards to hiring managers and recruiters. Enclose your business card and a short introduction of your experience and goals. Re-establish connections with old contacts or employers.

Partnering with a Vegas-based staffing firm can provide you with influential contacts and job opportunities that you would not be exposed to otherwise. Contact a PrideStaff professional and jump-start your holiday job search.

Have You Built a Talent Pipeline?

While you may have all of your current hiring needs filled at the moment, there may come a time when, planned or unplanned, you need another quality employee. Someone may leave for a new position, another person may not work out the way you planned, someone else gets sick, business makes it so you need more talent on board. It helps if you have a system in place that allows you to continuously find candidates, getting you away from reactive recruiting and having a strategy in place to fill the position before the need actually arises. In short, you need to create a talent pipeline.

The well-crafted talent pipeline does no end of good: It yields a lower cost per hire, a shorter hiring time, and a better candidate because you’ve already qualified them. All the research has been done by both candidate and employer before the interview even happens. Here are some ways to help build a successful talent pipeline:

Have touch points.

The idea of touch points comes from marketing – where you reach out to, or “touch”, the customer. So what points can you come up with that “sell” your company enough that a candidate will want to become a part of it by applying for a job? Consider how many touch points you’ll need to create to get the candidate to join your network, either remotely or as a job applicant.

Take care with time.

If you have a position open for a certain number of days, the quality candidate and passive candidates may miss it and you, therefore, miss out on them. Creating recruitment opportunities and landing pages means you give yourself endless days to bring candidates to you.

Use your employment brand.

Build a strategy that creates a network using various opportunities where a candidate can discover your brand casually. Think about using social media, such as posting upcoming job fairs or videos through Twitter or YouTube on your Career Page. You want your brand to tell candidates why they want to work with you – these little informational nuggets can encourage candidates to apply.

Embrace technology.

The millennial generation currently makes up 36 percent of today’s workforce, and that number will only grow. Considering that fact, coupled with the fact that our society simply has become one of multiple screens, it makes sense that using technology as part of your pipeline will only increase your chances of finding that quality candidate. Candidates are as much, if not more, likely to be searching for jobs on mobile devices, while still using a desktop computer. Bear in mind that your recruitment strategy should include those numerous screens.

Community matters.

That technology mentioned above connects us all in ways we never considered before. The successful talent pipeline understands and embraces that, recognizing the need for effectively reaching people through social media, referral platforms, and a strong company community. So make your resources, touch points, and other information readily available and as personalized as possible to the candidate you’re seeking. Creating a community doesn’t cost much, yet it can yield rich results in terms of finding quality talent.

Creating a pipeline will bring the good candidates to you continuously so you’ll have qualified, vetted talent available whenever you need it. For help putting a strategy together for your pipeline, visit PrideStaff Akron today.

Start Utilizing a Career Mentor for Long-Term Success

Having a mentor can accelerate your career in myriad ways, providing support, contacts, constructive criticism and frank, unbiased advice. There may be no better way to learn from an experienced pro how to address workplace issues, master corporate culture, and successfully jump those inevitable career hurdles.

How You Benefit

A mentor is an excellent third-party resource to turn to when you’re stuck on a project or facing a conflict, but their wisdom and knowledge extend far beyond troubleshooting boundaries.

You’re privy to their personal tips and insight. Benefit from their guidance, which is based on years of experience. Your mentor will coach you on particular skills, challenge you to move beyond your comfort zone, and focus on your optimal career development.
There’s no better sounding board. In addition to providing critical feedback on both hard and soft job skills, your mentor is a friendly ear with whom you can share successes and failures.
Clarify your ideas and goals. Your mentor can help solidify them by talking through them with you. And, you’re more likely to follow through on plans if you’ve shared them with someone who will hold you accountable.
Develop your critical thinking skills. The best mentors challenge their mentees to think about things in new ways – whether it’s their job, their job search or their long-term career objectives.
Benefit from their connections. As someone who is personally invested in your success, your mentor will open up their personal and professional networks to you. Any single connection could be a potential resource or job lead.

How to Find a Mentor

A professional recruitment firm can be among your most valuable sources in finding a mentor, as one step in moving your career path forward. Here are some additional tips:

Write down your expectations. What do you want to learn? How long do you anticipate your mentorship lasting? What will their time commitment look like? Outlining these details from the beginning will help ensure that you and your mentor are on the same page.
Seek out someone in your same field or industry, or the one you want to break into. Be sure you respect the person, as well as relate to them on a personal level. Then take the initiative to contact them and be prepared to dedicate time to the relationship.
Consider going online. You may find a mentor among your LinkedIn connections or at a site such as StudentMentor.org. Also, most cities have meetups for various industries and interests. Use all your available networking opportunities, seek out people who have had interesting and successful careers, and then reach out and introduce yourself.

To learn more about mentorships and additional tools to enhance your job search and/or career development, read our related posts or contact the experienced team of recruiters at PrideStaff Modesto today.

Your Team Deserves All Star Management

A high performing team deserves a manager of similar calibre. An effective manager balances team accountability and autonomy with overall guidance for tough or sensitive decisions. Finding management candidates who understand the need for such a balance is difficult. A survey by Gallup suggests that companies choose the wrong candidate for a position 82 percent of the time.

Quality of management explains 70 percent of the variance in the results concerning employee satisfaction. The survey shows that only 30 percent of full-time workers are inspired by their jobs and managers, and 20 percent of workers feel dissatisfied. Gallup reports that well-managed teams provide the most benefit; for example, they experience fewer accidents and contribute to lower healthcare expenses. Improving employee engagement through better management lowers staff turnover.

Randall Beck and James Harter of the Harvard Business Review recently provided some insights and some pointers for finding effective managers who can lead and motivate your team.

Seek management candidates who communicate a mission. Manages should be assertive and possess the ability to stimulate employee productivity. They should exhibit the ability to create a culture of accountability and not feel the need to micromanage. They should be able to allow for mistakes, both their own and those of staff, to find innovative solutions. Additionally, they should be able to foster a culture of trust.
Gallup estimates that only ten percent of candidates will possess all of the required traits. Companies should develop a management pipeline among existing employees who show management potential and train them for management roles. However, Beck and Harter emphasize that unless a substantial percentage of management traits are innate, the effort for some individuals may prove exhausting and inefficient in the long run.
Extensive experience in an industry does not necessarily mean that an individual will thrive in a management role. A stellar programmer will not necessarily manage people effectively, or even want to. Natural managers are often the individuals who by default lead team projects. Seek feedback from your teams to help you identify which staff might be potential leaders and whom other staff would support as managers.

Looking to Hire in the Remaining Months of 2014?

Contact our team of experienced recruiters for more information on the benefits of partnering with our team as you strive to grow yours.

Protecting Temporary Employees from Hazards at Your Facility

As you consider whether or not to hire temporary employees, certain necessary considerations factor in – which affect temps as well as full-time employees. In the realm of liability, you have a duty to make sure every employee, no matter how long or short their duration with your company, has certain safety measures afforded to them. Fortunately, as of May 2014, OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) made an alliance with the American Staffing Association to help put those protections in place.

In short, all workers have certain rights, including that of safety, regardless of their time on the job. The alliance between OSHA and the ASA improves outreach to employers and staffing agencies, providing necessary education and information. This outreach goes not only to the companies and agencies but to their employees as well. Together, OSHA and ASA will educate staffing agencies and employers on their responsibilities to keep workers protected under the OSH Act, helping them recognize workplace hazards and how to avoid them. The pair will also focus on improving distribution of the information through such channels as electronic assistance tools (eTools, v-Tools, eMatrix, etc.), OSHA and ASA’s websites, and electronic and print media. OSHA has created numerous such alliances to prevent workplace injuries, fatalities, and illnesses.

ASA and OSHA’s partnership makes sense because, technically, a staffing agency and the temporary employer both have a form of control over the employee, bestowing responsibility for their safety on both parties. Here’s how:

Staffing agencies have the obligation to examine the working conditions of their employees’ assigned workplaces, making sure each place is safe for candidates to work in.
While staffing agencies don’t need to have expert knowledge of each employer’s hazards, they should make themselves aware of any existing conditions, possible hazards, and the best method of protection for temporary employees.
The temporary or host employer must treat temporary workers the same as any other worker with regard to training, health, and safety protections.
Communication between the staffing agency and the host employer is paramount for making this relationship work.

Remember, as an employer or a staffing agency, whether an employee works with you for three weeks or three years, they all must be afforded protection under the OSHA Act and must be adequately informed regarding health and safety training, as well as explanation of duties. If you have any questions regarding the latest alliance between OSHA and ASA, go to www.pridestaff.com/akron or www.osha.gov with any questions.

Are Background Checks Really Necessary? In a Word: Yes.

The hiring process can take a lot of time, effort, and energy – it brings stress to just about everyone involved. So after the resume reviews and interviews, do you really need to do a background check as well? Absolutely – it’s a part of due diligence that you cannot afford to overlook. What looks shiny and clean on the outside can have a bad core, and you don’t want that in your company. Make sure you do thorough (and legal) background checks for any new hire.

First of all, be sure you check all resume information and references. Make sure that the candidate really did work at all of the jobs he listed, and performed the duties he claimed he did. You may want to check his LinkedIn profile against his resume to check for discrepancies. If the person has been out of college for a while, it’s still a good idea to double-check and make sure he actually did receive a degree from his claimed institution of learning…several stories have come out in the past ten years of major executives lying about degrees and losing jobs or money as a result. And listen carefully when speaking to references – is there a tone in the voice or a certain word choice that sets off alarm bells for you? Don’t be overly suspicious and untrusting, but don’t ignore the warning, either.

If you feel you need to do a criminal or credit check, you should probably have a specific reason for doing so. Some states such as Oregon and Washington, for example, will only allow credit checks if it’s specifically applicable to the position, such as an accountant. You must always ask permission for a credit check. And be consistent in your plan for what kind of checks you do for candidates, even if not all candidates get the same ones (e.g., anyone working in medicine should have a clean drug screening/no history of substance abuse). Any sort of inconsistency in your checks can get you in hot water with a candidate whom you choose not to hire.

In order to do this thoroughly and properly, it might behoove you to work with a staffing firm such as PrideStaff Akron, who has a list of carefully prescreened candidates. This way you know everything is done correctly and it takes the worry off HR’s plate for conducting the check. Either way you do it, make sure to check the background of your candidates carefully and without violating the candidate’s privacy.

Background checks are necessary for today’s workplace, although the extent may vary. For guidance with checks, contact the staff at PrideStaff Akron to make sure you conduct yours correctly.

Quarter Four is Upon Us | Are you on Track to Reach Your 2014 Goals?

Quarter four is upon us. The goals that were set back in January should be revisited now to avoid unfortunate end of year surprises. Be flexible. Some of the goals identified in January may not be such a priority now, whereas others may be more urgent. Now is the time to prioritize, determine what needs to done, and what cannot practically be achieved in the remaining fourth quarter.

What Steps Should be Taken When Analyzing Goals?

The first step is to list critical tasks. Next, list lower priority items that you would like to accomplish given time. Be realistic in terms of time and resources. Various methods can hasten critical task completion.

Delegate.
Julian Birkinshaw and Jordan Cohen of the Harvard Business Review found that individuals tend to cling to tasks that could be handled by others, freeing up valuable time. A study of 15 executives showed that they reduced their work by six hours a week by delegating low-value tasks. According to Birkinshaw and Cohen, individuals resist delegating tasks because it requires organization, training, and there is a learning curve. However, once the investment is made, the benefits are rapidly realized.

Eliminate unnecessary tasks.
Birkinshaw and Cohen suggest eliminating meetings except those required to make a final Ban PowerPoint presentations in meetings. If there are projects that require focus time, encourage communication via social media. Staff information can be posted to a website, or feedback on an issue can be requested and delivered online. Creative ways can be found to save time. Such measures may prove so popular that they are adopted on a full-time basis.

Plan personal time.
Temporarily eliminate daily activities that are not essential, or reduce the frequency so that the same task is done only once or twice a week. Switching tasks less often can save substantial time and effort. For example, file documents once a week instead of every other day, or delegate the task to a specific person.

Offloading tasks and freeing up valuable time may require an upfront investment in terms of thought and organization. However, the time will be recouped later, you will accomplish a greater number of goals for 2014, and you may develop new habits and routines that work better.

Looking to Hire Additional Staff Members as 2014 Comes to an End?
Contact the expert recruitment specialists at PrideStaff Las Vegas today to learn how our team can assist you with your hiring needs!