Advance @ Regional Chamber’s Expo
The Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber’s Business to Business Expo featured a black tie with area restaurants and businesses Jan. 29 at Crystal Gardens in Southgate.
Football Party Event
Tyler, Tara, Renee, Jordan, and Donna recently attended the Football Party event sponsored by Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber, and Monroe Chamber! Advance Staffing Solutions is a proud member of both chambers and enjoy the opportunity to network with other community businesses.
How to Continue Career Networking Your Way Into 2016
If you are looking for ways to take the next step in your career, it all begins and ends with networking. People tend to become stagnant in their job and career over time, but it is important to push yourself and continue to strive for something better. Many people assume that they are safe in their current position and don’t need to make networking a priority, but this is the wrong attitude to have. Not making the effort to network while you can might really hamper your career going forward.
Networking is not always easy and it is common to feel burnt out over time, but there are a few ways that you can keep this from happening.
Help Others
In some ways, networking can be very self-oriented at times. When you are looking to network in the most effective way, it is important that you look to help others. Approaching networking from the standpoint of helping yourself is not ideal. This often puts you in a negative light with those that you are trying to network with. This means that you can benefit from networking in a way that allows you to help others. It is always a good idea when you are connecting with other people that you ask how you can help them. People are more likely to go to bat for someone that is willing to pay it back.
One on One
It is also important to remember that networking is most relaxed and enjoyable when you do it in a more personal setting. This means that networking should be one on one. It is always a good idea to try to network with people that you have some history with or a background. This makes the conversation flow more freely and takes a bit of the pressure off of you. Meeting in person is always the best way to begin the networking process. You can begin corresponding through email later on to add convenience.
Set Aside Time
Another great way to make networking less stressful is to set aside time dedicated specifically to networking. Networking is important to your career and it is important that you make networking a priority. Networking shouldn’t be something that just happens by chance. It needs to be something that you plane for in your schedule. This is the only way that networking can be manageable.
We are thankful for our employees!!
Congratulations Micah Kailimai and Ronald Musial!! They were 2 of many winners from our Thanksgiving drawing. They each took home a $25 gift card, and Advance Staffing Solutions drawstring bag!! We are very thankful for all of our employees!!
Use a Personal Brand to Start Attracting Top-Tier Candidates
It’s common for companies to think that their corporate brand is more important than their personal brand. Well this might be true for a large well-known brands, for a smaller company the personal brand is part of the corporate brand. Therefore, it’s up to every business to develop a strong personal brand in order to attract high performance candidates.
Here are some ways to start building an outstanding personal brand that will help your company reel in the best employees.
Understand what your brand is about
Your personal corporate brand is essentially what your company stands for, what it’s known for, and how the company is unique in the market. It’s not about being the best, but about being recognizable to the world. Keep this in mind when developing your brand for recruitment purposes.
Why would anyone want to work for your company?
The goal of a personal brand is to convince top tier candidates to get excited about coming to work for you. Think of what it will take to get people thinking about your company as an employer of choice. Could it be the great career opportunities, the above average salaries and benefits, or just the unique work environment you offer?
What kind of impression the company makes
From the moment that candidates are checking out a company for a potential job, they are subtly being exposed to the brand. Verify that your brand makes a positive impression on candidates as they review job openings, the career portal, news and marketing content, and more.
Personal branding with a partner
It’s possible to give your personal business brand a boost by partnering with a company that has an outstanding brand already. A staffing agency, like Advance Staffing, can elevate your business brand because we have a great reputation that thousands of candidates already know about. When we represent you as a client to our high performance job seekers, your business will shine.
Use the above tips when developing a strong brand that will impress the most desirable candidates for your company.
What Will Employers Find When They Compare Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile?
It’s easy to apply for a job using LinkedIn tools, which sends your profile and career data zipping over to employers in a matter of seconds. But, before you do – when is the last time you checked to make sure your resume information matches the information on your LinkedIn profile? What could confuse employers or what do you not want them to see about you?
It’s time to clean up your LinkedIn profile so it says the same thing as your resume.
Your Career History for the Last 10 Years
First, go through all your career information on your LinkedIn account, going back 10 years. Do the job titles, descriptions, and employment dates coordinate? Fix any errors. Remove your career history going back more than 10 years from your LinkedIn profile, to avoid “dating” yourself. Include temp jobs under one agency name.
Your Skills and Product Knowledge
Chances are, you have gotten plenty of LinkedIn endorsements from peers on your profile. Are these skills appearing on your resume too? If not, evaluate the skills and if they are relevant to the types of careers you are going after. Remove them off LinkedIn if they don’t serve you. Or add them to your resume if they add value to your expertise.
The People You Know
Very often, recruitment pros will search through the LinkedIn (and other) social media profiles of candidates to see if they are connected in any way. This can be a positive thing, such as when you are connected d with a few people who work for your target company, or the person you list as a reference is a connection of the hiring manager. Be sure to go through your LinkedIn profile and get connected to people you know at the companies you want to work for.
Education and Training
Maintain consistency between your resume and LinkedIn profile where it pertains to any education and specialized training you have completed. Ensure dates and descriptions of your educational history are correct. If you earned a high GPA, just include this on your LinkedIn profile. If you are currently working on a degree or certificate, make sure you state your estimated graduation date in both places.
Can You Become a Respected Leader Overnight?
Do you dream of being an industry expert and someone who others look up to for leadership? If so, it won’t happen overnight. These things can take time. But there are some ways to fast-track your way to success. Here’s how to become a respected leader in your career.
Become a subject matter expert
Everyone is good at something, but the better you are at your job and the more knowledgeable you become, the more others will look to you for direction. Take the time to learn as much as you can about the processes and products that help you do your job, the industry updates and trends, and the people who make your industry great.
Align yourself with other leaders
As soon as you can, associate yourself with other thought leaders and become one of the pack. Attend industry association meetings and networking groups in the local business community. Network on social media groups. Elevate yourself through credentials and partnerships. Most of all, gain a mentor who you will be like someday.
Demonstrate leadership ability
If you want to be seen as a leader, then you must act like one. Find ways to stand out among your peers at work. Rise up to challenges and take on new responsibilities. Take the time to teach others what you know, when they ask. Demonstrate that you have what it takes to be a leader on your team. Learn to be a powerful speaker and presenter. Think about ways to solve problems and make your boss and co-workers look good.
Think beyond the four walls of your workplace
True leaders have a strong sense of community and the impact they are having on the rest of the world. Find a cause you believe in and support it. Volunteer once in a while and see how good it makes you feel and how you stand up for something good. The world needs more leaders, and it’s time to take your place.
By using the above methods, you can elevate yourself to leadership status in very little time. Be strategic and consistent with how you present yourself.
Are You Giving Killer Customer Service to Your Candidates?
As the old saying goes, “The customer is always right.” Even if some of your employees or managers might not believe this, it must be practiced by everyone at your company in order to be successful. Companies that find themselves struggling to hold onto clients/customers should look at the customer service being provided. If you give killer customer service to clients/customers and job candidates, your company should be highly successful. Here’s how…
Happy Employees Lead to Happy Customers
An important thing to remember here is that happy employees lead to happy customers. Because of this notion, you need to do everything possible to make your employees happy. This includes treating them fairly at work, offering benefits and perks, rewarding employees for their hard work and much more. When you do not keep your employees happy you run the risk of them not providing strong customer service to clients.
Use Guidelines and Not Rules
Companies establish policies and rules because they might not trust their employees to do the right thing. But, when it comes to providing customer service, try to use guidelines instead of rules. Guidelines will help employees better do their jobs when it comes to dealing with customers. Guidelines allow employees the opportunity to make decisions on their own when it comes to helping customers. The worst thing an employee can do is tell a customer he or she cannot do anything for a customer because of a company rule or policy.
Treat Candidates Like Customers
You also need to treat your job candidates like customers. They are choosing your company as much as you are choosing one of them for the open job. If you do not treat them well while they are in your presence, it is likely he or she will turn down an offer of employment, remove themselves from the running or badmouth the company to friends who might apply there. Make sure you welcome candidates to your office at the front door, offer them water, show them around, give them a tour of the office, introduce them to everyone they see and much more.
Turn Customer Complaints Into Opportunities
Make it a point to turn any and all customer complaints into opportunities. These opportunities should be learning opportunities for everyone involved. Do not be the company that views customers complaints as problems. When you do this, nothing is gained from it or fixed and your company’s image will suffer. Tell your employees to look for learning opportunities in every customer complaint so they can improve their customer service skills and keep customers happy.
Go Above and Beyond for Customers and Candidates
As a company, you must do whatever possible to go above and beyond for customers and candidates. This should be done on a regular basis in order to keep both factions happy. You don’t have to spend a ton of money to make this happen either. Consider offering customers upgrades to products or services either for free or for a percentage off the price.
Providing killer customer service to clients and candidates is important in today’s competitive business world because it can mean the difference between success and a poor image.
Networking: Biggest Step You’re Missing in Your Manufacturing Job Search
Networking is one of the most important aspects of business today. Not every working person is utilizing the network they have the potential to build, which could quite possibly be hurting their career. When this happens, it could become difficult for that person to find a new job when necessary, because of a lack of contacts within the industry. When you work in manufacturing, it is important that you network as much as possible in order to make your job search easier.
Benefits of Building a Network
When you build a network, you will be opening yourself up to a plethora of benefits that will only help in your manufacturing job search. One of the most important benefits of building a network is the fact that you will be collecting hundreds of contacts from within the industry. You might never need to call on one of these contacts to help you with your career, but if you do, you have a group of people to choose from when making that important call.
Another benefit of networking is that you will be building relationships with potential employers. Should you attend career fairs, events or other meetings, collect the names and business cards of all those people you meet. For all you know, someone you meet at a business conference might contact you in the future when a position becomes available at their company. Always leave those you meet with a lasting, positive impression.
Increase Your Confidence
As you continue to network, you will be able to increase your confidence. Networking forces you to interact with others, sometimes people who you never thought you would ever speak to in your life. This will help you build confidence when it comes to speaking to unfamiliar people, which is an important aspect of your manufacturing job search. The more confident you appear, the more attractive you are to a hiring manager.
Raise Your Profile
The more you network, the more you will be able to raise your profile within the manufacturing industry. One of the biggest benefits of networking is getting noticed and being visible. People within the manufacturing industry will begin to recognize you the more often you attend social and business events within the industry. You can also build your reputation as someone who is knowledgeable of the industry by offering your insights, thoughts or tips about the manufacturing field during these events.
Find New Ideas
When you are networking during a job search, you can find new ideas for your industry. This is a major benefit, especially when searching for a new manufacturing job. When you go on a job interview, you can talk about some of the fresh ideas you came across at various networking events. These ideas come from the free exchange of challenges, goals and experiences you have gone through in your career.
As you continue to search for a new manufacturing job, make sure you are networking in an effort to secure that job. And don’t forget to partner with a staffing agency, like Advance Staffing Solutions. We can take all the hassle out of the job search for you. Click here to browse our open positions today.
How to Conduct Research on the Company Before Your Interview
Receiving the call for a job interview can be very exciting, especially for those who have been out of work for quite some time. Before you can step foot in the door for the interview, you need to perform a little bit of research on the company. Why? The research you perform can be the difference between being called back for a second interview and being dismissed from the interview quickly. It will also help you determine if the company can offer you the right career experience.
Always Browse the Website
The first thing you should do is browse the company’s website. This is where you will find the most company information, from policies to history to the company blog. You will be able to get a feel for the corporate culture by looking at pictures posted on the site of its employees, workspace, and company events. You will also be able to construct a few good questions to ask the interviewer by looking at the website.
Browse Competitor Websites
Even if you were able to find the company’s website, you should also browse the websites of the company’s competitors. This will help you learn about the industry, what changes occur at companies such as the one you are interviewing for, and much more. The more you understand about the industry, the better you can walk into the interview with confidence.
Try to Find Business Reviews
You can find out a lot about the company by logging onto corporate review forums on the Internet. You might be able to come across current and former employees voicing their opinions about the company. This could help you learn about the company and how it treats its employees. At the very least, run a quick check on the company via the Better Business Bureau online.
Find Out What the Company Sells
Prior to attending an interview, make sure that you find out what types of products the company manufactures or the services it sells. This will help you determine if the interview is even worth it for you as an employee. It will also help you get a better feel for the company and what type of market it operates in when doing business.
Take Notes
When performing your research on the company, make sure you write down some notes. Find out what the company’s goals are, its mission statement and its core values. All of this should be published on the company’s website. Since you are taking notes, be sure to bring those notes with you to the interview. You will be able to reference them during your answers, which will impress the interviewer, and you can use them to ask questions when prompted.
Check with Employment Agencies in Detroit MI
Perhaps your best source of information about the company you are about to interview for is with the staffing agency you are partnered with. Employment Agencies in Detroit MI know a great deal about companies in the area because they either staff for them or they are associated with them through business mixers and industry events. Ask your staffing representative to shed some light on the company before you head out to the interview in person.
If you take the time to research a company prior to a job interview you will find that the conversation with the interviewer will be much easier and coherent. You will have plenty of questions to ask and you can provide excellent answers.
Want to learn more? Explore important recruitment and employment topics by reading a few popular posts from Advance Staffing Solutions – one of the leading employment agencies in Detroit MI!
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How to Use LinkedIn Groups to Create a Talent Pool
A big part of a professional recruiter’s job is building a reliable talent pool of highly qualified candidates in Michigan to fill future positions within the company. Thanks to the tools found on social networks, such as LinkedIn, it’s possible to create a talent pool using the “groups” feature. The advantage of using LinkedIn groups to grow a pool of eligible candidates are:
- A chance to learn more about candidate professional backgrounds and credentials by way of profiles.
- The opportunity to engage passive candidates who have the skills and experience needed by your company.
- A way to categorize skillsets, and invite candidates to apply to specific types of jobs for ease in recruitment.
- The ability to create multiple candidate pools based on job types and skills in several groups.
The great part of using LinkedIn to form talent pools is that you can do this for no fees and with relatively little effort on your behalf. Instead, it’s a matter of building networks for jobs in Michigan using this powerful social network and sharing valuable content so you can attract the right kinds of people to your doors. Here’s how:
Set up a profile for your company on LinkedIn.
The first step in using LinkedIn for recruitment efforts is to set up a professional company page for your organization online. Write a good overview of your company, add your branding images and link to your company leaders who are on LinkedIn. Include your company website and any other social networks as well as links to your job postings.
Create a LinkedIn group for candidates.
Once you have established a presence as a Michigan hiring company on LinkedIn, added some followers and connected with other members, it’s time to build your first LinkedIn group. Create the group based on your industry so you can attract the best candidates out there.
Segment your LinkedIn groups for certain skillsets and jobs.
Set up complimentary LinkedIn groups for job seekers in your industry, and start branding them to your corporate image. Invite members of your first group who meet the criteria for certain skills, credentials, work experience ad interest to your segmented groups. For example, you may have a main group and then one for IT professionals to narrow down your talent pools.
Add weekly content relevant to your market.
To keep your LinkedIn groups fresh and growing at a steady rate, take the time to add weekly content in the form of shared articles, news, and blog posts about your company and industry. Encourage dialogue and sharing from all members of your groups.
Add job postings to your LinkedIn career groups.
To get maximum value from your talent pools, you’ll also want to post job listings online and share them on your LinkedIn groups. Invite members to either apply or share them with colleagues who may be a good fit. If you are contracted with a staffing agency in Michigan, ask the agency to share their job links in your groups too.
Invite passive candidates to LinkedIn talent pools.
You can also increase the size and influence of your LinkedIn talent pools by directly reaching out to potential candidates who are not actively looking for work but are seeking new opportunities. Check their profiles once you have searched for passive candidates by job keywords using LinkedIn’s search engine. Invite them to learn more.
We hope you enjoyed this post and share it with your networks! Also, we look forward to your comments and feedback! Want to learn more? Explore important recruitment and employment topics by reading a few popular posts from Advance Staffing Solutions – a premier temporary employment agency in Detroit, MI.
Please feel free to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and be sure to subscribe to our free newsletter for industry news, job leads and featured updates
What You Need to Know About Social Hiring and Recruiting
Social media began over a decade ago as a way to engage with others, find old friends, and connect with people all across the world. Over the years, it has changed dozens of times and is now being used by many organizations for recruiting employees. Not only does social media give recruiters a chance to find out more about potential candidates, but it allows them to reach more people as well.
Many job seekers are going past online job boards and looking for employment through sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. As a recruiter, to go after the best candidates you’ll need to keep up with the times for successful social hiring and recruiting.
The Rise of Social Media in Recruiting
One of the primary reasons social hiring exists today is because of how much social media is actually used. According to a recent career survey conducted by a career job portal, two in five employees found their job through a social media site. The statistics also showed that 39 percent of companies are successfully using social media for recruiting. The fact remains that everyone is using social media sites more, job seekers and employers included. By incorporating methods for finding great employees through social media, you are reaching more candidates.
Educate Yourself on Social Media in Recruitment
As a recruiter, you need to start out by educating yourself on the different social media sites use for finding employment. You are probably aware of LinkedIn, as it is used by millions of people for finding employment, as well as by businesses seeking top level candidates. But that isn’t the only site to use for social media hiring and recruiting. You also want to employ other social media sites and really find out how the sites are being used and which are the most popular. Some recommended sites to use are Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Tumblr.
Watch Your Competition
Another great way to start recruiting through social media is by watching your competition. If you know of other businesses in the same industry that recruit through social media sites, take a look at their accounts and see what they are implementing. This gives you a hint as to what methods work, and which you can implement to stand out from them. Think of unique ways to reach potential job candidates so that you can keep up with your competition’s recruiting efforts.
Develop a Long-Term Strategy
Finally, make sure you have a solid recruiting strategy and that it has good long-term effects. Just because you start out with one method of recruiting, doesn’t mean you have to maintain that method. Perhaps over time, you have found that certain techniques of finding candidates isn’t working for you as well as they used to. Move on and find another way, such as posting on a different site, connecting with industry specific groups and social members, and searching through tweets of individuals announcing their need for employment.
Social media hiring and recruiting has proved to be successful for many companies, and you can do very well with it with regular practice. The most important thing is to have a plan, rather than just jumping in and hoping for the best.
If you are looking for staffing agencies in Monroe MI, contact us today.