6 Simple Ways to Increase Your Value at Work

Today more than ever employers need people who add value to the team. It’s no longer acceptable to just show up and handle your to-do list. You have to make a conscious effort to demonstrate that you’re committed to your department and the company’s success as a whole.

Where do you begin? Below are a few tips from PrideStaff, one of Phoenix’s leading employment firms, to increase your value at work:

Solve problems.

If there’s a current or potential issue your employer is facing, identify it and provide an intelligent solution. When you do, you’ll be able to help your company sharpen their competitive edge, which is especially critical during these challenging times.

Show initiative.

Do more than what’s required from your job description. Whether it’s helping a fellow co-worker who’s struggling to get work done, or offering to take on a new initiative, you’ll make yourself more indispensable, as a result.

Sharpen your skills.

When you’re handling the same work day in and out, it’s easy for your career to grow stagnant. To avoid this happening, look for ways to sharpen existing skills, as well as gain new ones. This will help you become a go-to expert for your current employer and more marketable in future job searches.

Identify where you excel.

Knowing your strengths is key to adding value. If these areas are only a small part of what you do each day, ask your boss for projects that better play to them. You’ll be more successful on the job, as well as happier too, all while enhancing your value.

Build relationships.

In today’s world of emails and Zoom meetings, it can be easy to lose touch. But relationships are just as important as they’ve always been. It’s why you should focus on building strong ones, trying to get to know your boss and co-workers on a more personal level. If you’re working remotely, check in with them regularly. If you’re in the office, then connect in-person.

Say “no.”

Your work quality is vitally important to your company’s bottom line. To protect it, it’s ok to say “no” to your boss to new responsibilities as long as you offer an explanation. Be flexible too. Tell them you’d be happy to take on new work, as long as they delegate one of your tasks or projects to another employee.

Are you ready to move on and add value to another company?

PrideStaff is here for you. As a leading employment firm in Phoenix, we know who’s hiring and how to get your foot in the door at top companies. Contact us today to learn more.

Help! My Team Is Burned Out

Employee burnout is a very common issue impacting workplaces across industries – according to Gallup, 76% of employees experience burnout “sometimes,” and 28% experience it “very often.” It can negatively affect your organization due to decreased productivity, lower morale and engagement, and higher healthcare costs and absenteeism. If your team is suddenly cynical, less productive, tired, or making more mistakes, it’s time to take action. Learn more about what to do if your employees are burned out: 

Set a Positive Example

You cannot effectively lead your employees if you are also burned out, so focus on your own self-care. Ensure you are getting enough sleep, as well as taking breaks and time off. Set a positive example for your team, or else they won’t take you seriously if you seem burned out yourself. 

Communicate with Empathy

Be transparent with your team regarding the contributing factors of their burnout. Communicate with empathy and let them know you understand why they are feeling how they do. Simply having their perspectives validated can go a long way at making them feel better about their current work situations. 

Focus on Controllable Factors 

Much of what creates burnout is out of your hands, but if there is anything you can do on your end to alleviate it, take the opportunity to do so. Get to the root causes of the burnout problem. Focus on controllable factors – are there solutions you all as a team could implement? For example, if your employees feel overworked but like they can’t take time off because there’s no one to handle their tasks while they’re gone, look into cross-training or bringing on temporary employees for coverage. 

Clarify the Team Purpose 

By the time your employees have reached the verge of burnout, they have likely lost their sense of why their work has meaning and value. Having a defined reason why their work is important is a crucial aspect of engagement and job satisfaction. Work together to clarify your team’s purpose and remind one another during tough times why you all do what you do. 

Show Your Appreciation 

Sometimes a genuine “thank you” can be enough to boost your team’s spirit and make their efforts feel worthwhile. Especially in challenging or hectic times, make it a priority to show your appreciation for your employees and everything that they do. A simple compliment can make them feel recognized for the hard work they’ve put in. 

Call PrideStaff Today

Find top talent to add to your team by partnering with PrideStaff Akron. Our recruiting specialists will work with you to understand your needs and find the candidates who are right for you. Contact us today to learn more about our staffing solutions. 

Follow These Tips for Being Productive while Working from Home

There’s no place like home. And then, it also becomes your workplace. For many, this change was force-fed with the sudden onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. For others, working remotely has already been the norm. For a growing number of workers worldwide, it’s an increasingly desired option.

Regardless of how you got there, what can you do to keep your productivity at peak levels while working from home?

Create a workspace.

Create a home workspace for yourself that you associate with your job and leave when you’re off the clock. This is important whether you have the luxury of a home office or you need to convert a corner of your bedroom.

• Or, maybe it’s both! If you’re most focused and creative sitting at a desk for some tasks and stretched out on a chaise lounge for others, go for it. Realign your daily to-do list the same way. For instance, are you a morning or a night person? Take this into consideration and position the most critical tasks during your “peak hours.”
• Clear your workspace of anything that distracts you from what you need to get done. Keep other job-related papers and files in neat stacks, racks or drawers. And lose anything non-related that gets in the way.
• The right lighting is important. Natural light is awesome and plentiful in the summertime. But if it causes a glare on your screen, close the blinds and flip on a lamp if you have insufficient overhead lighting. While you’re at it, keep the room where you work at a comfortable temperature using an air conditioner or fan. Again, an open window is great, but you may need to eliminate outside noise.

Set yourself up like a pro.

You may not be commuting anywhere, but you still have to get ready for work. Set a morning routine just as you would if you were headed into the office. Shower, work out, read the paper, eat a good breakfast, grab some coffee … whatever normally works for you.

• If you didn’t do it at the end of the previous day, make that to-do list. You significantly increase your chances of being productive when you set intentions. And, it does help to physically cross completed items off your list.
• Schedule your time. Establish start, break, and end times for working. Sure, it’s fine to answer the occasional off-hours text or email, but set boundaries to maintain a healthy work/life balance. After all, that’s the top benefit of working remotely. If those interruptions start to upset that balance, put the brakes on.

Advancing your career and growing as a professional can be challenging even in the best of times. So, when something as unprecedented as a year like 2020 hits, what can you do to stay productive, goal-oriented, and on track? Let the experienced career development experts at PrideStaff Modesto help. Read our related posts or contact us today to learn more.

Why Every Business Can Benefit From Having a Staffing Provider in Their Contacts

As a business leader, you know hiring isn’t easy. Finding a candidate who is both a skills match for the job and a cultural fit for your organization can be a struggle—especially when you also have a company to run.

This is why it makes sense to join forces with a top job agency in Las Vegas. Staffing agencies hire for a living, so they can streamline your hiring process and help you find the best person for the job. Here’s a look at some of the top advantages of working with a recruiter.

Four Benefits of Teaming Up With a Staffing Partner

More Time to Focus on Your Business

When done right, hiring is a very time-consuming task. Skipping a few steps will likely cause you to hire the wrong person, but you also have a business to run. This is a non-issue when you work with a staffing partner because they’ll handle hiring for you. All you’ll have to do is meet with their top choices and make your final decision.

Connect With Passive Talent

Often times, the best person for the job isn’t currently searching for one. This isn’t a problem when you work with a recruiter, because they maintain talent pools filled with passive candidates. When a position at your company sounds like a match for one of these people, they reach out to them with the details. Since passive talent isn’t searching job postings, this is likely the only way to get the job in front of them.

Save Time and Money

Time is money, and when hiring on your own, it can take a notable amount of time to fill a position. In the interim, you’re forced to pay existing employees overtime to complete essential tasks, while others pile up, waiting for a new hire.

When you work with a recruiter, you’re able to avoid this, because they’ll help you fill open positions quickly. If it takes a little time to find the right person, they’ll connect you with a temporary worker who can assist until a direct hire has been made.

Make Better Hires

Finding the best person for your team is hard work. When you don’t have much experience hiring or needed to get someone in place yesterday, it’s easy to miss red flags that your chosen candidate isn’t a good idea.

A staffing partner will help you choose the right candidate because they hire for a living. They have both the time and experience to guide you in the right direction, so allow them to make bad hires a thing of the past at your company.

Team Up With a Staffing Provider

Hiring the right person for the job isn’t easy, but you don’t have to do it alone. PrideStaff Las Vegas wants to help you build the best team you’ve ever had. Contact us today to find out how we can make your company even better!

Do I Really Need to Submit a Cover Letter?

Studies show that HR executives only glance at your application for a mere six seconds on average. Given this situation, do you really need to submit a cover letter? Can you be confident that anyone will ever even read it?

Look, we get it. Job applications are often frustrating and time-consuming. You want to take any opportunity to cut some corners. The cover letter often becomes the first victim of this instinct.

However, you can gain a lot of value from a cover letter. Before you talk yourself into leaving out that step, consider your options carefully. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you consider whether to submit a cover letter.

Read the Situation

Whether to submit a cover letter or not depends on the situation. Some companies will give detailed instructions on what to include in a job application. If they ask you to skip the cover letter, or don’t provide a way to upload one, you can assume one isn’t needed.

On the other side of the spectrum, some firms will pointedly request a cover letter, along with instructions on what to include. Of course, you should follow these guidelines as closely as possible. For all other situations, you’ll have to use your best judgment. But, as we’ll explain, you’re usually better off assuming that a cover letter is required.

There’s Little Downside

Submitting an unnecessary cover letter usually won’t hurt your chances of scoring an interview. If the company doesn’t provide specific guidelines, you should probably include one. Certainly, don’t include a cover letter if the company specifically asked you not to. But, otherwise, the only risk is that they will ignore your document.

And, if the HR staff reads your cover letter, you should only help your chances. In more extreme cases, potential employers might reject your application out of hand if they don’t receive a cover letter as expected. For that reason, in ambiguous situations, there’s usually more risk in not sending a cover letter than in sending one.

Boosting Your Chances

But it’s important not to view the cover letter as an annoying chore. Don’t just see it as a requirement. Rather, treat the document as an opportunity.

You don’t get much space to introduce yourself to prospective employers. Take every chance you have to highlight your best skills and background. A cover letter helps you make your best sales pitch. Here are a few of the ways a cover letter can boost your profile with a company:

Get More Space

Resumes are short and very formalized. You don’t get much room to expound on your most attractive traits. A cover letter grants you additional space to present your reasons for getting hired.

Fill In The Gaps

Some points on a resume require clarification. Most obvious of these: time off from your career. The cover letter lets you explain things like resume gaps.

Go Beyond the Resume

Resumes present an excellent snapshot of your career. However, the documents don’t encapsulate you as a complete individual, or even as a complete employee. A cover letter lets you convey that additional information.

Form a Connection – You don’t just want to meet the minimum qualifications for a position. You want the HR staffers actively excited about meeting you. A cover letter can help you form that personal connection. It gives you a chance to build a relationship with people you haven’t met yet.

Cover letters can help you stand out from a crowded field of job applicants. You can also get a boost in this department by partnering with a strong staffing firm like PrideStaff. They can give you the expertise and insight you need to find the perfect career fit.

Contact PrideStaff today to find out more.

10 Tips to Stay Productive While Working from Home

Whether you’re new to working remotely, or it was previously a sporadic occurrence, if you’ve quickly transitioned to working from home full time, you may experience some challenges as you figure out the best way to structure your workdays to be most effective. Check out these 10 tips to stay productive while working from home:

1. Set Up a Work Spot

Don’t work in the same spots in your home that you normally relax in. Set up a work spot where you keep any electronics or office supplies, and perform your work in the designated area only – your brain will associate it with working, and you’ll be able to focus better.

2. Get Your Appearance Work-Ready

A major perk of working from home is being comfortable, but don’t take it too far. Get yourself ready for work each day with personal care and dressing in real clothes. Wearing loungewear all day can make it hard to get into work mode.

3. Establish Work Hours

Give yourself a definitive set of work hours when you’re working from home. This holds you accountable, while also protecting against overworking since you have an end time.

4. Compartmentalize Personal and Work Tasks

Your personal and work life can get their boundaries blurred quickly when you work remotely. Compartmentalize your personal and work tasks so you don’t get caught up in doing chores when you should be working, or pulling out the laptop when you should be unwinding after dinner.

5. Communicate Ground Rules

It’s essential for your family and friends to understand and respect when you are working. Communicate your ground rules and let them know when you cannot be disturbed.

6. Protect Against Distractions

Your home can be a landmine of distractions to take your focus away from work. Protect against distractions as much as possible – block social media or other websites that suck up your time or keep the TV off, for example.

7. Create Transitional Routines

When you work outside of home, there are built-in transitions to beginning and ending the workday, most notably your commute. Prevent yourself from getting burnt out by creating transitional routines at home, such as relaxing with a cup of coffee and reading for 20 minutes before you start your workday or by turning off your computer and going for a walk at the end of the workday.

8. Schedule in Breaks

In a quest to be more productive, you may end up working too long and start losing focus and making more mistakes. Give your brain a chance to recharge by scheduling regular breaks throughout your workday at home.

 9. Check-in Regularly

Since you’re not in the same physical location as your manager and colleagues, you won’t have the opportunity to have impromptu debriefing sessions in passing. Ensure everyone is on the same page by checking in regularly to provide consistent progress and status updates.

10. Keep Up the Small Talk

You may feel pressured to maintain the highest level of productivity possible when you’re working at home to show your boss you’re trustworthy. However, don’t forgo socializing with your coworkers like you would in person. Keep up the occasional small talk to remain connected and prevent feeling lonely.

Contact Us Today to Find Your Next Opportunity

Find job opportunities that are right for you by working with an experienced staffing agency like PrideStaff Akron. Our team of recruiters can match you with the jobs that are the best match from employers across industries. Search our database of currently available jobs to get started.

How to Navigate Your Job Search During Covid-19

Despite all the uncertainty of 2020, you can still stay on track with your job search plan. Yes, you have to readjust your strategy a bit. But no, it’s not the best idea to move it to the back burner and spend your free time binge-watching TV and mastering video games.

Continue to lay the groundwork for your next career move. Polish up your resume, network and build relationships, and stay top of mind with employers that pique your interest.

Optimize your marketing tools.

Update your resume, LinkedIn profile, and related job-search materials. Most companies are just getting back up to speed following the Covid-19 pandemic, so you may have to exercise extra patience before you get that callback. But when it does come, you’ll be ready to hit the ground running.

Network online.

Most events will stay on hold for a while, so focus on online networking for the time being. Seek out like-minded professionals, influencers, and subject matter experts.

• Join professional groups on Facebook and LinkedIn. Participate in discussions, post, and comment. Focus on relevant topics that enable you to showcase your expertise.
• Practice holding virtual informational interviews. Rehearse the process with a friend. Have them ask you questions and give you feedback. Make sure you know how to angle your webcam so your interviewer can see your entire face, and check your background to be sure it looks as professional as you do. Once you’ve mastered the details, invite contacts to meet for virtual coffee.

Stay on the radar.

Maybe you made a promising contact or had a first-round interview with a company before the pandemic hit, and the world suddenly shut down. Check-in via email to show your continued interest – and also your understanding of what everyone is going through right now.

• Demonstrate a thoughtful attitude. Rather than asking a potential employer to help or respond to you, offer to do something for them. You might say something like, “I hope things are going well as you reopen this summer. I’ve led virtual teams, so I might have some ideas on how you can keep your remote employees engaged.”

Gather intel.

Follow companies on traditional and social media. Keep an eye out for coverage on how they’re dealing with Covid-19 and its aftereffects. How are they treating their employees, customers, and communities? You can learn a lot about corporate culture when extenuating circumstances arise.

• Set up Google alerts. Listen to investor calls. Then, when you do have a chance to interview, you can show that you understand employers’ current concerns and how you could help address them.

Improve your skillset.

Analyze the skills and requirements for desired jobs. What can you do to match them better? Is there anything you need to brush up on, such as learning the latest version of a software program or completing a professional certification? Do whatever it takes to bolster your qualifications so you’ll stand out from the competition.

Even now, the right job is closer than you think. At PrideStaff Modesto, our best-in-class approach has connected thousands of people to the perfect full-time, temporary, or temp-to-hire position. Read our related posts or contact us today to learn more.

Is Your Lack of Sleep Causing a Decrease in Your Workplace Productivity?

It’s hard to focus when you’re constantly exhausted. Career development in Las Vegas takes hard work and careful planning, but it’s almost impossible to do either of these if you’re always practically falling asleep on the job.

Whether you’ve had trouble sleeping for a while or your insomnia is newfound, it’s time to nip it in the bud, so you can be your best self. Here’s some advice to help you become better rested.

Four Tips to Get More Sleep

Regulate Your Sleep Schedule

If you go to bed at a different time every night, your body clock is seriously out of whack. Choose a set bedtime—and stick to it—so your body can regulate itself. This will help you become tired at the same time every night, so you can fall asleep easily and slumber soundly throughout the night.

Create a Bedtime Ritual

At the end of a fast-paced day, you need time to unwind before falling asleep. Pull yourself away from your devices and create a bedtime ritual that truly relaxes your mind and body. For example, reading a book, taking a warm bath, or meditating can help you achieve a sense of calm that allows you to slowly drift off to sleep.

Give Your Bedroom a Makeover

It can be hard to fall asleep at night if your bedroom isn’t conducive to sleep. Consider buying blackout curtains, investing in a white noise machine, and swapping the bulb in your reading lamp for a lower wattage version. When you’re enveloped in an environment that promotes sleep, it will be hard to resist it.

Avoid Caffeine Late in the Day

You might feel like you need caffeine in the late afternoon or evening hours to get you through the rest of the day, but this habit is inadvertently keeping you up at night. Caffeine can stay in your system for six to eight hours, so time your last boost wisely.

Find a different source of energy late in the day—i.e., step outside for some fresh air, exercise, or have a snack—so you don’t ruin your chances of a good night’s rest.

Get a Job That Makes Work Fun

Earning a living doesn’t have to feel like a chore. If you’re ready to find a new job that truly fulfills you, PrideStaff Las Vegas wants to help. Contact us today to start your search!

Why Get Feedback From Your People?

You know it’s important to give feedback to your employees. But what about getting it from them? When you find out about issues they’re facing, concerns they’re having, and ways they’re becoming disengaged, you can deal with a problem before it escalates into a disaster.

Some other reasons employee feedback is so important include:

• It sets the tone.
  By getting feedback from employees and implementing it, they’re more likely to accept and implement the feedback you give them.
• It improves retention.
  By getting ahead of problems before they become explosive issues, you can keep your employees happier, leading to higher retention rates.
• It gives you a competitive edge.
  At the end of the day, when you’re more aware of your strengths and weaknesses – and work to leverage positives and overcome shortcomings – you’ll be able to become a more agile competitor in the marketplace, winning more customers and improving your overall bottom line.

But getting feedback isn’t always easy. Sometimes employees aren’t honest or forthcoming with information. And if feedback isn’t authentic, it’s useless. How can you get quality feedback you can trust?

Instead of making feedback a public process, consider soliciting it anonymously, such as through an online poll or survey. This will help you to get the insight you need about employee satisfaction without making your team feel nervous about potential repercussions.

Another option is to solicit feedback in small groups. For instance, organize a lunch meeting with fix or six employees at a time. When people are in a more casual and small group setting, they’re more likely be open and honest.

Finally, talk about yourself and the shortcomings you have that you’re working on. If you know you have a particular weakness, and open up about it to your team, they’ll be more likely to trust you and open up to you in return. You’ll be able to establish better communication in the process and stay connected.

Is burnout a problem you’ve been hearing from your employees?

If employee feedback has revealed that you’re short-staffed, the team at PrideStaff can help. As one of Tempe’s top recruitment firms, we can give you access to skilled and talented professionals on a temporary, temp-to-hire and full-time basis. Your existing employees will be less stressed and more satisfied, as a result. Simply contact us to learn more.

6 Tips to Conduct an Effective Remote Job Interview

Remote job interviews can be a significant time and money saver, especially for out of area candidates, and in the midst of COVID-19, they are also a valuable safety precaution. When you interview candidates remotely, your preparation needs to be different than your standard in-person interview format. Conduct an effective remote job interview with these tips:  

1. Test Out All Technology Thoroughly

Perform a trial run of whatever technology you will be using for your remote interview so you can troubleshoot any issues beforehand. Test out your video conferencing software, as well as your webcam and microphone to ensure they are working properly and you feel comfortable using them.  

2. Plan Interview Structure Ahead of Time

Remote interviews may not flow as naturally as in-person ones, so winging it can make for an awkward interaction and may not portray your organization in a positive manner. Plan your interview structure ahead of time, from introduction to questions to conclusion, so you can effectively transition.  

3. Communicate Details to Candidates Prior 

Prevent catching your candidate off-guard, which can make them flustered and unable to perform as well as they normally would. Communicate details of the remote interview ahead of time so candidates know what to expect. Let them know what platform you will be planning to use, the access information, the length of time, who they will be speaking with, and any other relevant information.   

4. Limit the Number of Participants

Narrow down only the crucial decision-makers to be included in a remote interview. Limiting the number of participants will prevent the interview from getting too chaotic with people talking over one another, which can cause lagging in your video conference software and make it difficult for the candidate to understand everyone. If additional feedback is needed from other stakeholders, you can always (with the candidate’s knowledge and permission) record the video interview for review at a later time.   

5. Focus on Nonverbal Communication 

With remote interviewing, you lose the opportunity for the nonverbal communication that puts candidates at ease and helps establish rapport, such as a friendly handshake, open body language, and eye contact. During the remote interview, focus on your nonverbal communication as much as possible. Smile, look directly into the webcam when the candidate is talking, and nod to demonstrate you are listening.  

6. Pause Before and After Speaking 

Video conference software picks up the mic of one speaker at a time, which means there can be lag time between when a person speaks and others can hear them. Make it a point to pause before and after you talk so you can be sure the candidate can hear everything you said, so you don’t inadvertently cut them off if they start to speak.   

We’ll Help You Find Top Talent

Find top talent to join your team with PrideStaff Akron. Our team of dedicated experts will work with you to understand your needs, and provide you with qualified candidates. Contact us for more information on how PrideStaff Akron can help you with your employment needs.