Here’s How to Have Effective Communication in the Workplace

Your ability to communicate effectively significantly influences your professional success, from leaving positive impressions on hiring managers during interviews to being able to collaborate on group initiatives in the workplace. Check out these tips for having effective communication in the workplace:

Be an Active Listener

The key to being a good communicator is how well you listen. Being an active listener prevents miscommunication since you are less likely to miss crucial information the other party is conveying. Plus, active listening can give you insight into what type of information the other party needs and/or would be interested to know about.

Avoid Making Assumptions

Breakdowns in communication often occur because of incorrect assumptions being made about the other party’s intention. Be open-minded and avoid assigning judgment as to the perceived meaning behind a message. For example, a hiring manager’s email response that comes across as curt or rude to you could actually just be them respecting your time and only wanting to convey crucial information and give you a speedy response. Responding to others without making assumptions can keep you from causing unnecessary tension or conflict.

Consider Other People’s Perspectives 

Effective communication is a balance between what you want the other party to take in versus what they are interested in knowing. Consider other people’s perspectives when you are deciding how to communicate your key points. Think about what information would be most relevant to their needs and make that your main focus. If you provide too much extraneous detail, the other party is less likely to give their full attention and could miss out on crucial information.  

Self-Reflect After Miscommunication

When communication goes awry, this is the ideal time to troubleshoot and see if you have room for improvement. Self-reflect after a miscommunication to determine what went wrong, what role you played, and what you could do differently in the future to prevent a similar incident from occurring. If you are unsure, consider asking a trusted colleague for their feedback on how you could improve your communication skills – they may be able to give you insight you would have otherwise not been able to discover on your own. 

Explore New Opportunities

Get help with your job search by teaming up with PrideStaff Akron. Our team of recruiting experts can help you find new opportunities that are right for you, while saving you time and effort. Search our available jobs to learn more.  

How Might a Staffing Vendor Reduce Your Time to Hire?

A sense of excitement accompanies the process of hiring. Your spirits rise as you anticipate the possibilities of a new superstar joining your team. But first, the harsh realities: you have to trudge through the frustrating process of actually hiring someone, putting projects on hold and making due with a short-handed staff in the meantime.

It is possible to minimize the impact of this drudgery. By engaging with a staffing vendor, you reduce your time to hire and improve your overall recruiting outcomes. Here’s how it works:

How a Staffing Vendor Can Help During the Hiring Process

Companies face broad variance in their times to hire, based on particular industries and the specific circumstances prevailing in the labor market. That said, the average time points to weeks of searching – long-term data show employers should expect somewhere between 20 to 30 days.

A recruiter helps optimize your hiring process. This kind of partnership operates on multiple fronts at once. To better understand the benefits you’ll receive, here’s how a staffing vendor reduces your time to hire:

Ongoing Recruiting

Each time you run a hiring process, you begin certain tasks from scratch. You gather resumes, review candidates, sort them into tiers, schedule interviews, and make decisions about who to target for job offers. Each step takes time, rolling the overall procedure into a multi-week affair.

A staffing company cuts this time by doing much of the grunt work ahead of time. When you contact your recruiter, they have already gathered and processed the resumes. Because the firm is constantly recruiting, you might have the perfect candidate waiting for you immediately.

Dedicated Hiring Focus

To expand your staff, you need to divert your managers’ attention. Even with an HR department for help (which many smaller companies don’t have), individual supervisors break off their regular duties to participate in the hiring process.

This dynamic often leads to scheduling complications and delayed steps along the way. A staffing firm reduces this commitment. By taking on much of the burden onto themselves, hiring vendors benefit from a full-time focus on recruiting.

Streamlined Process

Think about a professional chef. Consider how quickly they can prepare a gourmet meal. Now remember the last time you tried to make a new recipe — recall the hours you put into the project and just how messy your kitchen ended up.

Recruiting carries a similar dynamic. By engaging a professional, you ensure a streamlined process. A staffing vendor can find the right candidate faster and better than you can on your own.

Benefits of Reduced Hiring Timeline

Slashing the amount of time necessary to find the ideal employees represents a benefit in itself. However, this windfall also spills over into other areas. Here are some of the other upsides you’ll experience by letting a staffing vendor reduce your hiring timeline:

• Reduced Costs: The streamlined process cuts down on all the resources needed to find the right candidates. Along with shortening timelines, a staffing vendor also reduces the costs involved.
• More Responsive to Market Changes: By trimming the length of time needed to find top-level talent, you become more responsive to the market environment. Pounce on opportunities by staffing up quickly.
• Staffing Levels Remain Optimal: Don’t let the Great Resignation hold you back. If you lose a key team member, you can replace them quickly with a staffing vendor.
• Less Disruption: Your business can remain on track, even as you find additional team members. No more need to put other projects on hold to run a time-consuming hiring process.

Contact Our Experts at PrideStaff Bend Today

Ready to upgrade your hiring process? A top staffing agency, like PrideStaff, can bring you the talent you need to take your business to the next level. Contact PrideStaff today to get the very best staffing services in Bend, OR.

4 Tips for Hiring During Today’s Great Resignation

In today’s job market, it’s hard to find mediocre candidates to hire, let alone your next star performer. The pandemic’s “Great Resignation” combined with the continued Baby Boomer exodus has created a perfect storm for employers looking to hire. What’s more is that if you bring a candidate on board who’s a bad fit, they can wind up costing you – as much as 30% of their annual salary, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

It’s a challenging situation. However, there are ways to improve your chances of finding the skilled and hard-working people you need, ones who are a fit for your organization. Here are a few tips to keep in mind during your hiring process:

Look to your current team.

Your existing people are a great source for referrals. Turn to them to ask about potential new recruits. If you are able to hire an employee from a referral, make sure you reward the individual who referred you.

Reach out to past candidates.

If you interviewed a candidate in the past who was smart and talented yet not quite the right fit, consider whether they would be a good avenue to pursue now. In the future, maintain a relationship with these candidates that you didn’t hire but who still impressed you, so you have a pipeline to turn to when you need to recruit.

Skip the traditional job description.

Most job descriptions are laundry lists of what a company wants. However, this isn’t compelling or appealing for a candidate. Instead, include a short description of the job, with 5-7 requirements, and then discuss what it’s like to work at your company and the perks and benefits it offers.

Work with a staffing agency in Phoenix.

If you haven’t partnered with a staffing agency in the past, now’s the time. When you work with a recruiter, they’ll learn about your company, hiring needs, and culture, then hit the ground running looking for great candidates. They also have a vast network of active and passive candidates, as well as a wide range of recruitment tools on hand. It’s an easier and faster way to hire.

If you’re ready to turn to a staffing agency to handle the hiring so you can focus on other business priorities, turn to PrideStaff. We’re a leading staffing agency serving the Phoenix business community with talented candidates in a range of fields. We can fill your skill gaps faster, so you can keep your team operating at peak performance. To get started, simply contact us today.

7 Ways Employers Can Promote Inclusivity

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month, a time to celebrate, affirm, and support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning individuals. Although Pride Month is an opportunity for employers to reflect on and demonstrate their commitment to inclusivity in the workplace, it is something that should be prioritized and communicated to your employees all year long. Learn more with these seven ways employers can promote inclusivity:

1. Update Language in Job Postings

Building an inclusive workplace starts in your hiring process. Review your job postings and update as necessary to make the language more inclusive so you don’t deter candidates from applying. State your company’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the workplace as one of its core values. Also, review wording in job postings to ensure only gender-neutral language is used.

2. Create a Safe Space

Ensure your workplace is one that is free of any harassment and discrimination by developing a thorough policy that states this behavior will not be tolerated. Communicate the consequences employees who violate this policy will face. Also, make employees feel safe for reporting incidents by clearly outlining the process for doing so, and reiterating they will not face retaliation.

3. Educate Your Workforce

Include training on inclusivity in the workplace as part of your onboarding process for all employees. This will help your workforce learn to understand their own potential unconscious bias, increase awareness on best practices for treating all colleagues in a respectful manner, and foster a nurturing environment.

4. Offer Inclusive Benefits

Review the current benefits you offer your employees and look for opportunities to make them more inclusive. For example, you can ensure your health plan and medical leave policy covers gender transition treatment and surgery.

5. Encourage and Support an Employee Resource Group

Employee resource groups (ERG) are voluntary organizations employees can join, generally based on a shared identity, like LGBTQ+. It allows them to connect with one another in a safe space, discuss issues affecting them professionally or personally, and ways to bring necessary strategic change to the workplace. Encourage your employees to create and participate in an ERG to demonstrate your workplace’s commitment to inclusivity.

6. Revisit Policies

Take a look at your employee handbook and revisit policies to make them more inclusive. For example, remove dress codes with rules specifically for men or women and instead have rules that apply to all. Also use gender neutral language throughout your policies, such as “parents” instead of “‘mother and father”.

7. Facilitate and Act on Feedback

Send a clear message that your company is willing to put the work into being an inclusive workplace. Facilitate feedback from your employees, such as via an anonymous online form, and more importantly, act on the suggestions as often as possible.

Attract Top Talent

Start finding the best employees to join your team by working with experienced staffing firm PrideStaff Akron. Our team of experts will work with you to understand exactly what you’re looking for and then match you with the candidates from our expansive pool of prospects. Contact us to learn more about our services.

Encouraging Safety in Your Workplace

As a caring employer, you firmly believe there’s nothing more important than the health and safety of your workers. Whether your team has experienced a few recent safety events or you’re just trying hard to prevent issues from happening, you’re searching for effective ways to encourage workplace safety.

Ready to get started. Here’s a few tips to make your company safer than ever.

Five Ways to Encourage Safety in Your Workplace

Make Training a Priority

Your company is a busy place, so despite your good intentions, it’s possible every employee hasn’t been thoroughly trained on all aspects of their job. It’s time to change that, because accidents happen when people don’t have the skills needed to perform their job duties.

Provide Proper PPE

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration requires employers to provide workers with personal protective equipment when it is necessary to protect them from job-related injuries, illnesses and fatalities. As an employer, you’re also required to train workers required who use PPE to know when it is necessary, what kind is necessary and how to properly use and care for it.

If you think this is a formality, it’s not. Educate workers about the PPE needed to do their jobs and provide it for them because it’s both mandated — required by OSHA in most cases — and the right thing to do.

Hold Regular Safety Stand-Downs

If you’re not familiar with Safety Stand-Downs, these are events where employers discuss relevant safety matters with workers. Dedicating a few minutes to this on a regular basis — i.e., first thing Monday mornings or before kicking off a new project — is a great way to keep your team educated and informed. Be sure to leave time for workers to ask questions, to maximize learning.

Lead by Example

You’re the boss, so all eyes are on you. If you break safety rules, workers will assume they can do the same. Therefore, it’s important to always take the safe route — even if you don’t think anyone will notice. Your influence matters more than you might realize, so always set a good example.

Share Safety Stats

Numbers don’t lie, so help your team realize the importance of following all safety protocols by sharing accident and injury data from OSHA and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For example, 5,333 workers died on the job in 2019 — an average of more than 15 deaths per day — according to OSHA.

Hire the Right People

Need help finding workers who take safety seriously? PrideStaff Las Vegas is here to guide your search. Contact us today to find out how we can be of assistance

Building Trust with New Employees is Crucial: Here’s Why

“Without trust we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team.”

Stephen R. Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, paints a true yet somewhat optimistic picture of what can happen when trust is lacking between employees and their employers. Starting from a new hire’s first touchpoint with your company, trust is essential to true collaboration. But in its absence, in worst-case scenarios, even the most basic elements of camaraderie or teamwork dissolve.

Employees in low-trust workplaces feel disengaged. Before long, they tend to withhold their talents, creativity, energy, and passion. As a result, they lose productivity, their innovation capabilities, and their competitive edge. And so does your business.

Trust is brain-based.

Researchers have derived a mathematical connection between trust and economic performance – tied to messaging chemicals generated by the human brain. This surfaces in the workplace, as compared to employees at low-trust companies, those at high-trust organizations report:

• 74 percent less stress
• 106 percent more energy
• 50 percent higher productivity
• 76 percent more engagement, and
• 40 percent less burnout.

They also take 13 percent fewer sick days and feel 29 percent more satisfied with their overall lives.

Start building trust – and productive working relationships – on Day One.

As soon as a new hire signs on and begins onboarding at your company, weave trust-building into every aspect of their experience.

• Assign new employees tasks that are open to interpretation and creativity. As they turn to you for clarification, resources or direction, give them what they need while at the same time reinforcing your confidence that they can get the job done.
• Keep communication lines open. To build trust with anyone, two-way communication is a must – and it needs to be ongoing. Managers should be well trained in active listening and other aspects of enhanced communication. The key is to communicate frequently enough – more so with new hires – that people always feel comfortable coming to their supervisor with any questions, ideas, or concerns. Tip: You can’t over-communicate, but don’t let it morph into micromanaging. With practice, effective managers will know instinctively how to find the right balance.
• Have a sense of purpose. People are looking for certainty in an uncertain world, and employees want to work for companies that help deliver meaningful societal impact. Support worthy causes that matter to your business, your team members and your community, and drive informed conversations about what your organization stands for.

For additional resources to foster trust as you build your winning workforce, reach out to PrideStaff Modesto today. We’re proud to help put people to work as we help companies grow and prosper – focusing 100 percent of the client experience, every single day.

How to Turn Around A “Bad” Interview

You’re in the middle of a big job interview, and things aren’t exactly going as planned. Despite spending hours preparing, you’re totally tanking.

When this happens, it’s easy to mentally pack up and declare the interview a bust — but it’s not over yet. You’re an amazing candidate with so much to offer, so here’s some advice to ensure the hiring manager sees that.

Four Tips to Turn the Tides on a Bad Interview

When in Doubt, Pivot

It’s not ideal when an interviewer asks about skills or experience you don’t have, but that doesn’t mean you can’t come up with a winning response. Sure, you might not be able to walk them through your process for completing a task you’ve never done, but you can be honest and show your eagerness to learn.

If you feel confident enough to explain what you would do in the situation, go for it. Otherwise, simply explain that this is something you really don’t know much about, but are excited to learn.

Clarify a Poor Response

When answering a tough question, you’re cringing as you hear the words come out of your mouth. Immediately, you think of several responses that would’ve been better — and it’s not too late for a quick save.

Simply pause for a second and tell the interviewer you’d like to circle back and rephrase. If your second response is strong enough, it will likely outweigh your initial bungled reply.

Ask Questions

Interviewers like candidates who show a genuine interest in the position. Therefore, you’ll likely be able to distract a bit from a less-than-stellar performance by simply asking thought-provoking questions.

Inquiries like “How would you describe the company culture?” and “How is success measured in this position?” show you’re interested in the job for the right reasons. This will score you some points, because skills can be learned, but a passion for the job cannot.

Make a Connection

Interviewers want to hire candidates they like, so make them forget about the answers you flubbed by establishing a bond. If you researched the interviewer in advance, weave a fact you learned about them into conversation — i.e., if they went to your alma mater, say something about the school.

Even if you walked into the interview knowing nothing about them, you can still form a bond by asking questions like “What do you enjoy most about working at this company?” This is a savvy way to turn the tables on them, while building a rapport.

Get the Job You Want

Ready to find a job you’re truly excited about? PrideStaff Las Vegas is here to help. Contact us today to get started!

Do You Really Know What it Means to Be Inclusive?

Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace is not only the right thing to do, but it can also benefit your business in a number of ways. It fosters a safe, healthy environment for all, enhances engagement and productivity, and inspires creativity and innovation.

But what does it really mean – and how do you get and stay there?

It’s not enough just to hire people of different nationalities, races, genders and sexual orientations – although it starts there. Everyone working for or affiliated with your company needs to feel truly welcome, safe and free to be themselves.

It starts at the top.

The role of your leadership team in building D&I is to design every aspect of your business with that goal in mind. Your senior team members must walk the talk and consistently demonstrate inclusive behavior. From there, it will cascade down and throughout your company, forming the framework for a truly inclusive culture. If it isn’t a true company-wide commitment, it simply won’t happen.

• Create an environment where everyone feels included. It’s in the way you talk, meet, act and share. It’s also in your policies, your brand identity, your terminology, and your talent and business growth strategy.
• Managers should always be sensitive as they connect with employees. This means getting to know them on a personal level and being transparent with them about their own lives. If managers are real with people, chances are better that they’ll get the same in return.

Look holistically at your talent lifecycle.

D&I begins at a candidate’s initial brand exposure; for instance, your career or social media page, and lasts through their company exit point. Think critically about where any bias may show up, at any touchpoint.

• Building a scalable inclusion strategy means questioning the homogeneity of your team and changing it as needed. Make sure no one is systematically excluded from any career or life opportunities. Create belonging as you deepen team bonds.
• Edit your job descriptions for inclusive language. Then, develop job competency checklists that detail required hard skills versus developmental and coachable skills. This will make room for upcoming underrepresented talent.
• Source candidates who have experience in multiple disciplines and/or come from non-traditional education and professional backgrounds. As long as they mesh with your mission and vision, they’re likely to add a unique layer of creativity, innovation and problem solving to your team.

Involve your employees.

Give employees multiple ways to share their feedback, perspectives, and stories. This will contribute to ongoing open dialogue that can lead to more positive outcomes. Your tactics might include surveys, all-hands discussions, or D&I communication campaigns.

Provide safe spaces.

Consider the safety and comfort level of all employees, especially those from marginalized groups. For instance, offer unisex bathrooms and, on a broader level, host team lunches and other events where everyone can casually connect virtually and/or in person. Employee networks can provide an open environment that sparks conversations important to the whole community.

Let the workforce development experts at PrideStaff Modesto offer additional insight and guidance when it comes to building your productive, healthy and all-inclusive workplace environment and culture. Read our related posts or contact us today to learn more.

5 Tips for Career Spring Cleaning

When it comes to spring cleaning, your closet or kitchen might come to mind. However, this is an ideal time of year to clean house for your career too. Whether you want to get promoted, make a change to a different industry, or pursue a new job, spring cleaning your career can help you reach your goals and take that next important step.

To make that happen, be sure to:

Take stock of where you are.

It’s easy to get caught up in your daily to-do list and forget about the big picture. However, now is a good time to ask yourself if you’re on track, professionally. Do you like your job,, or is going to work draining each day? If you could change something, what would it be? What are your career dreams and goals? Answering these questions will give you guidance as to where you are and where you want to go.

Go through your options.

As you’re evaluating your career, think about those areas that are of particular interest to you, both at work and in your spare time. It is possible to develop a hobby or a side job into a career if you have a passion for it. If not, think about areas at work where you could take on more challenging roles, putting you in a position to take that next step up.

Refresh your skills and gain new ones.

No matter what your career goals are, you should always be learning and growing. Even if it’s not necessarily related to your industry or role, you never know where taking a class, enrolling in a course, or attending a seminar can lead you.

Whether you’d like to sharpen your public speaking skills, learn about grant writing, or find out how to code a website, continuing education is key to career success. You’ll also have a chance to network with others while you pursue different interests and expand your skillset.

Clear out your schedule.

If you’re overworked and constantly in a rush, consider the activities that compete for your time and attention. If, for instance, you’re volunteering at two or three different organizations, think about cutting it down to one. Pick and choose optional meetings to attend and focus on other extraneous areas where you can gain more time and refocus it on other areas of your career.

Polish your resume and LinkedIn profile.

If you’d like to pursue a new opportunity, you’ll first need to dust off your resume and polish your LinkedIn profile. As you do, focus on accomplishments, not tasks, and quantify your background and track record wherever you can. An employer wants to hire someone who delivers results, so state things such as “Led a team of 10 employees and achieved a 98% customer retention rate” instead of “Led a team and managed customer relationships.”

Need help making your next career move?

Turn to PrideStaff. As expert recruiters in Tempe, we can help you better define what you want from your career and find your next great opportunity. To get started, simply contact us today.

Email Productivity Lessons to Help You Win Back Your Day

The average person receives more than 120 emails each day. Taken as a whole, hundreds of billions of emails fly through cyberspace on a daily basis. No wonder it feels like you’re overwhelmed.

If you’re not careful, dealing with emails can take over your entire schedule. That’s why you need to be smart about how you handle the correspondence.

Here are some email productivity tips that will help you win back your day:

Create an email routine

Emails come at random times. As such, they can easily interrupt the flow of your other responsibilities. You feel the need to drop everything to answer the incoming message.

Ignore this temptation. Instead, create blocks during the day when you can set aside time to answer emails. Except for emergencies (in which case, you should probably be notified by text rather than email), you can wait to respond until it fits into your schedule.

Get the most out of filters

Some emails come in as a matter of routine. Monthly reports or weekly updates. Meanwhile, other senders require a quick response — you don’t want to fall behind in replying to your direct supervisor.

Let the computer do the initial sorting for you. By setting up filters, you can direct particular messages to the appropriate folder. This lets you react efficiently to important items, while easing the process of sifting through the rest.

Keep your responses short

Get efficient about responding to emails. First, consider whether a message requires a reply at all. Often, you can just absorb the data provided by informational or group emails without extending the conversation.

For emails that require an answer, keep your response as short as possible. If you start to get too long, consider scheduling a call or a video chat to deal with the discussion that way.

Set up folders to organize your incoming emails

Most of your emails will fall into identifiable categories. Create folders to correspond with these distinctions. This will make it easier to organize your incoming messages. At the same time, you’ll be able to direct your focus to the emails that require the most attention.

Have templates ready for routine responses

You probably find yourself sending the same basic email over and over. Take advantage of that repetition. Rather than starting from scratch each time, build templates you can use in routine situations.

From introductions to customer complaints to coworker interactions, you likely see the same circumstances pop up again and again. Get the most out of your time by copy and pasting the basic format.

Don’t let emails linger

Clear your inbox every day. Whether you move the message to the appropriate folder, respond to it, or delete it, make sure that you act on each incoming email. This way, you don’t get backed up.

Contact PrideStaff Bend Today

Increasing your email productivity will help you get the most out of your job. You’ll also maximize your potential by finding a position that perfectly suits your skills and background. Here, a top recruiter like PrideStaff Bend represents a big help. Contact us today to learn more.