Employment in Fresno, California

Fresno is a medium-sized city in Central California. With a population of just over 500,000 people, Fresno is the fifth largest city in California (and the largest inland city in the state). It’s known as the financial, industrial, trade, and commercial capital of the Central San Joaquin Valley.

Fresno is located approximately 200 miles north of Los Angeles and 170 miles south of Sacramento. Universities/four year colleges located in the area include California State University, Fresno; University of California, San Francisco (Medical Education Program); and DeVry University.

Fast Facts:

• Population (City of Fresno): 509, 039
• Population (Fresno County): 947, 895
• Population Density: 4,097.9 people per square mile
• Average time to travel to work (minutes): 21.7
• Homeownership rate: 55%
• Median household income: $46, 903

Largest Employers in Fresno, California
Looking for work in the Fresno area? Here are just a few of the largest employers in the region.

Community Medical Centers
Employees: 6000
The largest and most comprehensive medical center in the San Joaquin Valley, Fresno’s regional hospital system employs thousands of local residents.

Saint Agnes Medical Center
Employees: 2,800
Saint Agnes Medical Center is 436-bed, state-of-the-art Medical Center and medical school campus that features advanced equipment and facilities and the expertise of top-ranked physicians and staff. Over two thousand local residents are currently employed there.

Kaiser Permanente
Employees: 2,160
An integrated manged care consortium, Kaiser Permanente is based in Oakland, California and operates out of nine states. Currently, Kaiser Permanente has 8.9 million health plan members, 167,300 employees, 14,600 physicians, 37 medical centers, and 611 medical offices. Over 2000 professionals are employed in the Fresno area.

If you would like to hear about any open positions from the companies above contact PrideStaff Fresno today! We are more than happy to help you with any questions you may have during your job search!

Making the Best Out of a First Impression

A recent article in Forbes Magazine reported that it takes approximately 7 seconds for someone to develop a first impression. For job seekers, this means that prospective employers are making assessments about you based on your appearance, body language and behavior as soon as you walk through the door.

Here are the top 5 ways to make a great first impression:

Act with Intent.
Giving off a good impression requires you to clearly know what your intentions are. This is especially important in a job interview setting. As you’re getting ready for an interview, don’t forget to remind yourself of your goals. Think about why you’d like the job and what you are going to do to convince your prospective employer that you are the best candidate. Going over your intentions helps you focus and harness positive energy.

Pay Attention to Your Appearance.
It goes without saying that you need to look professional if you want to make a good impression in a job interview. But there’s also more to it than that. Picking out a series of your favorite ‘interview outfits’ in advance can help you feel polished and confident on the big day. Think about how you wear your hair, or what jewelry and/or accessories you put on. Attention to detail is crucial and you want to both look and feel your best.

Stay Conscious of Your Body Language.
Body language is a huge part of first impressions. Everything from your posture to where you focus your eyes to how you sit gives off certain signals. Practice talking in the mirror and pay special attention to how your body language shifts in different moments. And as a general rule in an interview: avoid slouching, crossing your arms across your chest, or looking down.

Turn that Frown Upside Down.
When you’re not having a good day, it reads all over you. If an interview happens to fall on a day when you’re overly stressed or anxious, you need a plan of action to help snap you out of it. Others can easily pick up on your negative energy from your facial expressions and body language—and this is not the way that you want to portray yourself in a job interview. Many people exercise to elevate their moods. Others read a book, or watch an episode of their favorite television comedy. No matter what, you want to enter the room in a social, feel-good mood.

Be a Good Listener.
As important as it is to give off a great impression by expressing yourself and showing off your dazzling personality, it’s equally beneficial in an interview setting to demonstrate that you’re an attentive listener. Make sure that you listen carefully when your interviewer is speaking. Don’t interrupt or talk over them. Be considerate, genuine and conscientious of when to speak and when to listen. This is one of the first things that someone notices about a person during an initial encounter and often sets the tone for the rest of the interaction.

For more great tips of how to make a great first impression, contact PrideStaff Fresno today! We are more than happy to discuss any questions or concerns you may have about your next interview.

What to do When an Employee Violates Your Social Media Policy

Like it or not, social media is now part of our daily lives. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn make it possible for employees to externalize their professional lives and broadcast it across the Internet.

Sometimes this type of free speech online runs up against certain limitations in the workplace. For example, many companies have implemented social media policies over the past few years to clearly articulate what can and cannot be said about a company on an employee’s personal Facebook or Twitter account.

But what do you do if an employee violates the company social media policy? How do you monitor their behavior and deal with their transgression accordingly?

Remind Them of the Policy.
If what you’re dealing with is a first time, minor infraction, the best strategy is simply to have the employee revisit your company’s social media policy. Most companies will likely list the following things as off-limits for discussion on a personal social media account: wages, working conditions and interactions with co-workers or management. There will likely also be a section concerning language and professionalism. While you certainly can’t police behavior while your employees aren’t on the job, you can expect them to keep their public social media accounts clean. When an employee breaks your social media policy for the first time, give them an opportunity to go over the policy again in detail. Have a conversation with them and make sure that they are 100% clear about where they went wrong.

Suggest a Private Forum.
Discussing your professional life online is never a wise idea. Tweets and Facebook posts both show up in a quick Google search and it’s next to impossible to conceal this information. However, if any employee feels that their freedom of speech is being impinged upon by your company’s social media policy—and this is a common concern—you may want to suggest that they instead voice their opinions and thoughts in a less public forum. It’s possible to make your Twitter account private, as well as to write a private blog. While not an ideal scenario if you have a repeat offender, this may be a good suggestion for an employee who never wanted to intentionally violate the company policy and just made a one-time error in judgment.

Take Action.
If you have a repeat offender on your hands— or an employee who has made a particular egregious social media error—it’s probably best to take action and let them go as quickly as possible. You don’t want to develop a reputation as an organization that tolerates bad social media etiquette. And you really don’t want your current staff to think that it’s okay for them to use social media as a forum to share private details about your company.

 
For more information about your company’s social media policy, Contact PrideStaff Fresno. We are happy to discuss any questions you may have about social media usage.

Target Facebook Posts for Your Intended Fresno-Based Audience

Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. FourSquare. Pintrest. Yelp. Tumblr. The average person views hundreds of social media posts daily.

Trying to reach an audience in a vast sea of up-to-the-minute social media posts can be a challenge for any business.

That said, there are a number of highly effective ways to reach a specific target audience simply by tweaking a few key details to speak more directly to them, as well as by using the targeting tool built into Facebook. This tool allows you to target a specific audience by interest, age, education or location.

Here are some more details about the common ways to better target your Facebook posts.

Location.
One of the most effective ways to target your Facebook posts is to tailor them to a specific geographic location. For example, if you’re posting a job in a key location, you’ll want to target that city—as well as neighboring cities— to ensure that your intended audience views it.

Industry and Education.
Targeting by professional industry and/or education gives you the opportunity to speak only to individuals that possess specific skills and work within your—or a related—industry. This is highly useful for times when you want to post relevant industry content or attract the attention of your colleagues or competitors.

Interests.
A less well-known targeting tool is to filter by interests. Many individuals list their interests on their Facebook profiles and this is another great way to directly reach out to your audience on a specific topic that might capture their interest.

Want to learn more about how to target your audience on Facebook? Get in touch with PrideStaff Fresno. We’d be happy to discuss your needs with you and make sure your next post is seen by the intended viewers.

How to Use Social Media Networking to your Advantage

Networking is a polarizing topic. Some professionals swear by it for career advancement and important employment leads. Others only associate it with cold calls and awkward social events.

But regardless of which side you’re on, we can all pretty much agree that networking is an important and unavoidable part of a professional life.

Particularly in a world with so many growing social media platforms and ways to connect with one another, networking is often an essential part of the job hunt for anyone looking for a new position.

But where do you start when it comes to networking online? How do you approach potential employers via social media? Do you run the risk of irritating hiring managers by soliciting them online?

All of these questions point out common concerns that job seekers have when considering how to network.

Yet by following just a few easy steps, most professionals find that networking is a lot less scary—and a lot more beneficial—than they originally thought.

Let’s get started.

Step #1: Become a Follower.
The first step to networking is quite easy. Start by conducting a little online research about the companies and organizations that interest you and begin ‘following’ their social media channels. Follow them on Twitter. Like them on Facebook. Connect with them on LinkedIn. This doesn’t require you to make any official contact whatsoever, yet you’ll gain access to extremely important information—including job postings—just by watching their pages.

Step #2: Start Sharing Content and Making Connections.
Next, you’ll want to begin participating in online dialogues with the companies that you’re interested in working for. Share industry articles and information and comment on posts. This is a great way to demonstrate that you’re engaged in the industry and also provides an easy introduction point to a prospective employer.

Step #3: Make Official Contact.
Once you’re on the radar of a few key employers, now is the time to consider sending a personalized message. Introduce yourself and mention your interest in their organization. Without being too pushy, inquire as to whether or not they’re looking to expand their team any time soon. Keep it brief, friendly and informal. Social media is an excellent tool for these types of encounters since it’s meant to keep contact short and sweet.

Investing a small amount of time every day in keeping up with your professional contacts via social media can really pay off when you’re searching for a position. Be patient and chances are you’ll make some highly valuable connections as a result.

For more information about online networking, Contact PrideStaff Fresno Today. We are happy to discuss any questions you may have.

The Strengths of Using a Staffing Firm

PrideStaff Makes ClearlyRated’s Best of Staffing® Client and Talent List

PrideStaff, a leading national staffing franchise organization, today announced they have each been named to ClearlyRated’s 2013 Best of Staffing® Client and Talent List. Presented in partnership with CareerBuilder, the fourth annual Best of Staffing list provides the only statistically valid, objective, service quality benchmarks in the industry and reveals which staffing agencies are delivering exceptional service to their clients and job seekers.

This year’s client list highlights a growing divide among the industry’s leaders and laggards and identifies PrideStaff as one of the best staffing agencies for companies to call when they are looking to hire temporary or full-time employees. In addition, being named to the talent list highlights PrideStaff dedication to job seekers and identifies PrideStaff as one of the best staffing agencies for job candidates to call when they are in need of employment.

“At PrideStaff, we place a strong emphasis on providing a remarkable client experience for both the companies we work with and the talent we represent” said PrideStaff COO Tammi Heaton. “For the fourth consecutive year, our clients’ and candidates’ direct feedback about our service has earned PrideStaff the Best of Staffing honor.”

Less than one percent of all staffing agencies in North America receive the Best of Staffing award for service excellence. Utilizing the Net Promoter® methodology, the Best of Staffing Client winners achieved satisfaction scores quadruple the industry average. This stark contrast in scores is a clear indication that the firms who have earned their way onto the Best of Staffing list truly stand out for their service quality. PrideStaff received satisfaction ratings of 9 or 10 out of 10 from 76.6% percent of their clients, significantly higher than the industry’s average of 39 percent.

“Few things are more important to companies than the employees you hire,” said ClearlyRated Founder and CEO, Eric Gregg.  “The same holds true for candidates on their quest for employment. Staffing agencies have proven to successfully connect companies with regular and temporary employees. Since the end of the recession, the staffing and recruiting industry has created more jobs than any other single industry in the country**, yet so many companies and job candidates don’t take advantage of this expertise and resource. Our hope is that both companies and talent use the Best of Staffing lists as a benchmark to help select a staffing agency that can either secure the talent or employment opportunity they need.”

®Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld. Net Promoter Score is calculated by taking the percentage of respondents who, on a scale of 0 to 10, rate their likelihood to recommend the staffing agency with a score of 9 or 10 (promoters) and subtracting the percentage who rate the staffing agency a 6 or lower (detractors).

**Bureau of Labor Statistics

PrideStaff’s Mission: Consistently provide client experiences focused on what they value most.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld

How to Fight the Midday Slump!

Does this sound familiar? At work, you’re going full steam ahead all morning, crossing things off your to-do list and feeling productive. You take a quick break for lunch and figure you’ll dive right back into your work and power through the afternoon.

But somewhere between 2 and 3 p.m. you find your attention wandering and your energy flagging. In fact, all you really want to do is take a nap. How can you fight this slump?

Here are five proven tactics to power you through–or, better yet, keep you from feeling draggy in the first place:

1. Drink Some Water. Being even slightly dehydrated will lower your energy and often make you think that you’re hungry, which is why too many of us head for the vending machines and the sugary snacks. What you really need is water. Drink a full eight ounces of cool water to revive yourself and your body.
2. Get Up and Move. Sitting in front of a computer all morning, as most of us do, is an energy drain. Stand up, stretch, and take a quick walk–if you can’t go out and walk around your building, go up and down the stairs a couple of times, or just visit a friend in a far-off department. Get your blood pumping and your heart rate up to re-energize your tired body.
3. Refocus Your Focus. Have you been working on the same project for hours and feel your head getting heavy? Switch to a different project, at least for a few minutes. Your mind works better if you can change gears once in awhile. When you go back to the original project after the break, the cobwebs in your brain should be gone.
4. Just Breathe. But do it right. Shallow breathing creates less oxygen running through your system. Focus on deep breathing for a few minutes. Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth for a count of five on both the inhale and the exhale. Fill both lungs, feel your ribcage expand outward, then exhale, emptying your lungs and feeling your ribcage collapse. Repeat 10 times.
   
5. Have a Healthy Snack. Often, a midday slump is due to your blood sugar levels dropping. Instead of succumbing to the munchies or those sugar cravings, eat something small and healthy: a piece of fruit, yogurt, a handful of nuts or a wedge of cheese and a few crackers. Sugary, fatty snacks will make your blood sugar soar, then crash, making you feel more sluggish than before.

When you find your energy lagging after lunch, know that you can do something about it! You’ll be happier, more productive and less tired when you learn how to control that drop in energy.

Etiquette for Using Personal Technology at Work

Most companies allow their employees to bring their own smartphones and even their tablets to the office. But does that mean you can–and should–use them whenever you like?

Obviously, each office should have its own policy for appropriate use, but there are several simple rules that all users should follow.

1. Mobile devices should be used with discretion. You need to give your full attention to your work and to those with whom you’re speaking or meeting, not allowing your eyes to wander to a new text message or being distracted by a ringing phone. Research has shown that we may not be able to multi-task like we think we can, and you also want to avoid giving the perception that your attention is divided when you’re supposed to be working.
2. Smartphones and tablets should be used in the office for work-related activities, not for playing games or updating your Facebook status.
3. If you prefer to take notes on your tablet, smartphone, or laptop during a meeting, be sure to let your colleagues know what you’re doing. Because smartphones and tablets are usually associated with games, texting, and other non-work applications, using them can send the message that you aren’t paying attention. And keep the device on the desk or table in front of you, not on your lap. If you spend the meeting hunched over your device, you’ll miss social cues and signals–like facial expressions–that could be important.
4. If you get a non-work, non-emergency call, find a private place to take it–and get off of it as soon as possible. If a client calls you on your mobile number, explain that you’re in the office and ask to move the call to the office phone. If you’re in a meeting, set the phone to silent/vibrate and answer only urgent calls. If you’re expecting the call, let others in the meeting know ahead of time that you may be leaving the room when it comes in.
5. Don’t wear your Bluetooth or other wireless headset at the office. Period.
6. If you’re running a meeting or a presentation, you have the right to set ground rules for using mobile devices, including asking everyone to turn them off in order to give the session their full attention. If you’re in the audience, follow instructions.
7. The mobile devices you’re using may be personal, but if you’re using your company’s Wi-Fi network, or using the devices for work purposes, you need to take precautions to protect your company and yourself from liability if you lose your phone or tablet. If your company doesn’t have an “acceptable use” policy for mobile devices, at least put your own protections in place: set up a PIN number needed to unlock your device. If possible, install an auto-wipe app that will allow you to remotely wipe all the information if your phone or tablet is lost or stolen. And if you’re tech-savvy enough, or can find out how from an expert, encrypt the data on your device so it can’t be read by the wrong people.
8. If you’re using a company-issued device, don’t add any apps or tools without requesting permission. Don’t employ it for personal use unless you’ve been given permission to do that, also.

The rise in the use of mobile devices has often blurred the lines of what is appropriate and what isn’t–especially for the younger generation, which has grown up using them, and since the technologies are relatively new standards have not always kept pace. But etiquette in general is about paying attention to the convenience and comfort of the people you interact with. So even when technology is involved, the basics of good manners apply.

The Top 5 Pain Points in Performance Reviews (And How To Solve Them)

Most everyone dreads dealing with performance appraisals.

Let’s be honest: performance reviews are a pain in the you-know-what.

Employees don’t like them and HR aren’t fans either–45 percent of HR leaders didn’t think reviews were good gauges of a worker’s performance, compared to last year’s 39 percent, according to a poll by the Society of Human Resource Management and Globoforce. They simply aren’t the kind of feedback the modern worker needs to perform better, particularly in ever-changing work environments.

More specifically though, performance reviews don’t do much to help an employee to stop and realize what they are doing right or wrong as they need it. Yes, performance reviews may focus on the “big picture” stuff, but that’s not what employees need in the moment.

Let’s look at a few reasons why performance reviews don’t do this and some alternatives:

1. Infrequent

Most performance reviews are only given once or twice a year. Well, does an employee need the right feedback annually, or do they need it as a goal is being worked on?

Research from employee survey specialist ETS found that only 42 percent of employees are asked to provide feedback to their manager through 360-degree feedback, and 45 percent of employees think clear, honest communication from managers would improve the quality of management. To get the best out of your people and become a solid manager, you need to provide positive feedback along the way. Traditional performance reviews just don’t meet the needs of today’s agile workforce.

Instead: Real-time feedback offers employees the direction they need as a goal is being worked on, not a year later. According to Derek Irvine, “Regular, frequent, consistent recognition–from multiple sources (not just the direct manager)–gives the ongoing, real-time feedback employees at all levels need to stay on course.” I couldn’t agree more.

2. Generic

Performance reviews are akin to used college papers with a name change. That is, the benchmarks are usually the same for every person. So, if the scale is generic, it likely means the feedback will be as well. If you don’t want mediocre employees, don’t give them mediocre reviews.

Instead: Feedback becomes easier to give if it is tied to results–real work that happens throughout the workday. Think about it: Is it easier to give feedback on one’s communication skills, or is it easier to give feedback on the latest project they completed, or an account meeting that went well?

When you tie feedback to results and objectives, it’s easier for both the receiver and giver. It gives you an opportunity to really mention their strengths, innovative approaches and results. Cater feedback to the candidate by considering their individual behavior, work ethic, goals, and direction–and by using benchmarks that are fair to them.

3. Not every goal is considered

Employees work on tons of goals throughout the year, yet only a few can possibly be considered in a performance review. Yes, not every goal compares to the other, but if it helped the overall focus then the goal was obviously important. Most performance reviews look at overarching goals and don’t look at the steps it took to achieve the objective.

Instead: In addition to giving frequent feedback, try to look at every goal an employee reached, not just the huge ones. This also helps employers to gain some real insight into their workforce which they may not have been aware of before.

4. Not agile

We live in a world where news, trends, and objectives can change in an instant. Most performance reviews consider the number of goals reached, as opposed to the quality of those goals. If a goal had to be adjusted quite a bit, it may look like the employee wasn’t on task, when in reality, they were just adapting to the nature of the new goal.

Instead: Adopt a results-only work environment (ROWE), which focuses on results, as opposed to when the goal was met. Some organizations have found ROWE to increase productivity by 41 percent as well as reduce turnover by as much as 90 percent. This helps your workers focus on the outcome of a goal, instead of rushing to meet deadlines or exerting too much effort on things that do not benefit the end result.

5. Bad for engagement

A recent survey indicated that 63 percent of employees are not engaged and are struggling to cope with work. Performance reviews don’t help with this case or with employee engagement since they are impersonal and irregular.

Instead: Offer feedback to employees in a more personal way. Let them know how they’re doing with their goals by regularly offering critiques, whether it’s good or bad.

This shows employees that you not only care about their performance, but that their performance actually contributes to the well-being of the company. This can boost the engagement levels of employees because it shows they really matter and that the future of the organization can be shifted through their work.

Reprinted with permission of TLNT.com: http://www.tlnt.com/2012/09/05/the-top-5-pain-points-of-performance-reviews-and-how-to-solve-them. Morgan Norman is the Founder and CEO of Work Simple, putting an end to performance reviews by providing a better way for co-workers and teams to share goals, work together, get and give feedback, and make each other shine. Connect with him and WorkSimple on Twitter at Twitter.com/worksimple.