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Winning the War for Talent: The Best Companies Use Training If you haven’t invested in training your team in a while, then it is time to re-think your strategies. Companies are focusing more time and energy on advancing their employees education. Why is that? People Want To Be Invested In: Just like you work hard to add value to your customer’s lives, you need to put focus on your staff as well. They are people, just like the ones you serve. Finding ways to add value to their lives will keep them loyal to you. How to Discover a Candidate’s “True” Personality In the past two articles we took a look at interview questions that can help go beyond the standard interview questions. This time we take a look at breaking through a candidate’s best behavior during the interview and “honeymoon” period of employment. From early childhood we are taught to always act on our best behavior when meeting new people. As we get older we are taught to put our best foot forward whenever we are networking or interviewing. How people act in an interview can be very artificial. Should I Stay or Should I Go? No one wants to lose their best performers, they are the most productive, the people you lean on, and the foundation you build your organization on. Because of these facts, we sometimes take them for granted. The easiest way to decrease hiring costs is to increase the retention rate of those who perform best! Keep reading for some ideas on how to do this. Great Leaders Make Mistakes Too! To err is human. Nobody is perfect. If that were the case, the world would be a very boring place. Great leaders make mistakes. The difference between the best leaders and others, is that great leaders see these mistakes as learning opportunities. This week we take a look at some of the most common mistakes all leaders make, and how to avoid them. How to Increase Employee Engagement Today Employees that are willing to go above and beyond their job description are engaged. They are the ones who come in early and stay late to make certain a project is completed on time. Satisfied employees are simply content with their work, environment and benefits. They will consistently meet expectations, but do not exhibit passion for their work. Transforming the satisfied to engaged can have a HUGE effect on retention. Great Teams = Offer Acceptance The key to getting an offer accepted is to have full knowledge of what motivates the candidate. There are many personal reasons why a candidate will accept or reject an offer. Many of these reasons are unique to that candidate’s specific situation, such as location, flexible hours, remote work options or perceived meaningfulness of the position. How to Create a Successful Team Creating the right combination of talent is the key to building a high-performing team. The ideal members of these teams will have a mix experience, education and motivation. Recruiting highly motivated employees to staff these teams can be easy if you know what to look for in an employee and how to bring out their best. Revealing Interview Questions That Uncover Great Talent and Reveal the Frauds! Last time we acknowledged the fact that nearly all of the usual interview questions and answers can be found on the internet. While an informed candidate is great, a candidate that has prepared for an interview by memorizing stock answers from Glassdoor.com does not show their ability to perform in the workplace. Three Easy Steps to a Great Hiring Program In our last eZine we explored how hiring from within sometimes isn’t the best way to fill vacant positions in your company. We also discussed how not managing performance and retaining poor performers is one of the most common hiring mistakes. This time we take a look at one of the most overlooked steps in hiring; reviewing the hiring process as a whole. Benefits of a Learning Based Culture Learning is a lifelong activity. New positions, even new projects, require a certain amount of education. Unfortunately professional development in many organizations is stuck in the classroom. While traditional classroom learning is an efficient means of delivering information, it is not always the most effective. Many times the concepts learned at a conference or training are not implemented or can even be forgotten back at the office. Focusing on education without hands on experience is a HUGE missed opportunity. Learning the Sweet Spot of Timing in Recruiting No matter what industry you read about, finding top talent is a challenge. In today’s fast-paced world, the goal of quality hires seems more and more difficult. The reality…it isn’t as hard as it seems. This time we take a look at some best practices in attracting and procuring top talent.

How Multitasking is Killing Productivity “Hold my calls” was a term used when someone needed to focus on an important task or when meeting with a client or coworker. Today, there are too many forms of communication to “hold”. Email, texting, instant messages, social media and the phone are all sources of distraction. Because of our instant gratification society, many feel that incoming messages need to be responded to immediately. This has caused an inability to focus in all areas of life.

10 Best Job Interview Tips for Jobseekers When you have successfully mastered cover letters, resumes, and job applications and are receiving requests for interviews, it’s time to understand how to succeed in the job interview so that you are ever closer to your goal of obtaining one or more job offers. This article focuses on the ten most important job interviewing tips for jobseekers.

Simple Steps You Can Implement Now On Your Website to Attract the Best Talent In the first installment of our three part series “Mistakes in Attracting Talent” we explained how a well written job description is key to attracting talent. This time we discuss how your website can make or break your talent search.

Job searches have changed dramatically in the past 10-15 years. The process has evolved from printed classified ads to search engines to smartphone apps. During this evolution, your website has been and remains the one place that brings all three of these stages togethe

Why Your Job Descriptions Could Be Costing You Access To Great Talent When attracting talent, there are many pitfalls that can lead to losing some of the best candidates. By avoiding these mistakes, you will have greater success. Over the next three articles in this series, you will learn how to avoid making some of the most common mistakes we see in the market when companies try to attract talent.

The Latest and (Maybe) Greatest New Company Benefit Student debt is painful for college graduates today. They are unable to begin saving toward their 401K, start a family, or even buy a house due to their mountain of student loan debt.

In fact, the debt amounts are so high for these grads that approximately 40% of them are in default on their loans. In one word, this is a PROBLEM

Dangers Abound During the Interview Process Last time we began our discussion of common and not-so-common hiring mistakes. This discussion focused on missed opportunities that occurred at the onset of the recruiting process…where jobs are posted, the role of Human Resources versus the Hiring Manager and selection bias. This time we will refinement that can be made to the interview process.

First Impressions to New Employees We have all been there, the roller coaster ride of emotions when beginning a new job. The nerves of interviewing have turned into the excitement of the offer. As you embark on your first day, all of those nerves and excitement come back all at once. It is not only the new hire that experiences this emotional roller coaster, managers are also along for the ride. Managers can easily step off the ride if a proper onboarding plan is in place.

Don’t Delay…Act Now! Last time we continued our discussion of common hiring mistakes by exploring missed opportunities witnessed during the interview process. This time we take a look at the decision making and offering process. This point in the hiring process can prove to be a make or break time.

Opportunities in Hiring Begin at the Onset of the Recruiting Process As competition for top talent increases, it is important to examine all aspects of one’s hiring process and eliminate potential, often simple, mistakes (while, of course, incorporating best practices). Over the next five articles, we will explore some common hiring mistakes made every day, in large and small companies, representing every industry.

Why Your Job Descriptions Could Be Costing You Access To Great Talent When attracting talent, there are many pitfalls that can lead to losing some of the best candidates. By avoiding these mistakes, you will have greater success. Over the next three articles in this series, you will learn how to avoid making some of the most common mistakes we see in the market when companies try to attract talent.

Simple Steps You Can Implement Now On Your Website to Attract the Best Talent Job searches have changed dramatically in the past 10-15 years. The process has evolved from printed classified ads to search engines to smartphone apps. During this evolution, your website has been and remains the one place that brings all three of these stages together.

Skilled Talent is in Short Supply-Speed is KEY! Slow decision making due to waiting for the “perfect” candidate.  There is a common misconception that because of the high unemployment rates, there is a huge pool of candidates to choose from. This belief leads companies to believe that if they just wait a little longer, the perfect candidate will appear. While seeking the elusive perfect candidate, many, many WELL qualified candidates are overlooked or put on hold.

Bringing Out the Best in Your Talent Recognizing talent in new and existing employees is an essential skill for managers at every level. This is not just the ability to read between the lines on a resume. It is the ability to recognize and draw out hidden skills and talents in your staff. To effectively learn this skill, one must retrain how they view their staff and potential candidates.

Relieve Anxieties with a Great Onboarding Plan Last week we discussed some tips on creating a great onboarding program from day one. Making the first day more about learning the lay of the land than paperwork, avoiding “busy work” and assigning a mentor were the main thoughts. This week we continue the discussion with more ideas to help avoid new hire angst.