HR & Management Tips - The Advance Group

Do You Know Your REAL Hiring Needs?

Raza Rauf on July 17, 2015

As a hiring manager, you may always be on the lookout for quality employees to add to your organization. This is especially true if you are in an industry with typically high turnover rates or difficult to fill positions. However, over-hiring can pose problems for the organization too – leading to lack of work for all employees, low productivity, and eventual layoffs due to budget problems. This is why it’s important to take the time to analyze your real hiring needs every so often.

Before you hang the “Help Wanted” sign, take the time to know your real hiring needs, with this quick checklist.

Step 1 – Develop accurate job descriptions, salaries and requirements.

Every job changes over time, which is why you need to keep up with each job’s description of responsibilities, requirements, and salary needs. Keep your job descriptions up to date by working with front line managers and observing employees on the job periodically. This will help you maintain a focus on real needs in the organization.

Step 2 – Evaluate current workforce skills and gaps.

You are hiring for skills and knowledge, not just to add more warm bodies. Identify the key skills and keep them on board, hiring replacements only if someone leaves who has these skills. As new projects arrive that demand more skills, hire for them.

Step 3 – Identify and move the most productive employees upward.

Chances are, you already have some high performing employees on your team who are ripe for some succession planning. Give them a promotion and move them into next-level positons, then focus your new hiring on replacing skills at the entry level.

Step 4 – Determine short-term and long-term hiring needs.

Taking a look at current client projects and incoming projects, it’s time to break up your hiring needs into two categories. These are staffing for short term and for long term goals. Bring in temporary contractors for short-term programs, and temp to perm employees for more long term projects.

Step 5 – Create training programs to develop team skillsets.

Determining your real hiring needs most often comes down to updates in the industry that demand top skills and knowledge of new technology. This is where training comes into place. Training can be focused on immediate project needs or on long-term goals for cross training the entire organization. Hire knowledge experts to transfer their information to your current employees whenever possible.

Step 6 – Partner with a staffing agency to maintain the candidate pipeline.

Your staffing agency can be a great source of support when it comes to hiring only for real needs. It is a more flexible option, with part time and full time employment options, short and long-term contracts, and many of the hiring costs are handled upfront by the agency. This maintains the right skills for your organization with a never-ending supply of pre-screened candidates.

If you follow the above tips, you can ensure that your company will be in better tune with actual hiring needs.

Is Your New Hire Your Next Superstar?

Raza Rauf on June 26, 2015

It’s every hiring manager’s dream to place someone in a new job and then, weeks later, discover that he or she has star potential. When a new hire is driven to success early on, it means that they not only make themselves look good, but your company does too. High performance candidates can be hard to spot, and they are rare indeed, but the person sitting across from you at the interviewing table could be your next superstar employee. Here’s how to find out.

Know what a superstar employee is

The definition of a superstar employee is someone who provides an above average ROI once you bring them on board. Mitchell Harper co-founder of Big Commerce defines superstars as, “someone who will generate 5x the important performance indicator of a normal person. For example, a superstar engineer will crank out 5x as much quality code as a normal engineer.” In other words, a superstar consistently outperforms other employees and rises to the top of the team quickly.

Choose the candidate qualities you want

When hiring, its critical to understand what factors will make a candidate become a future rock star employee. Make a list of the top 5 characteristics of your top performance employees, then focus on this as you read through resumes, meet with candidates, and evaluate their skills and abilities. It’s not always a certain personality type, but it’s the desire to make a difference in the industry that sets these candidates apart from others.

Use an assessment to weed out the “talkers”

One way to cut through the chatter when trying to identify your best prospects in stellar candidates is to use candidate assessment tests. People generally will say and do just about anything to get a job, including stretching the truth about their experience and skills. Give candidates a chance to prove they have what it takes to be on top.

Look for a progressive career advancement

Highly-driven candidates are concerned with career advancement and their work histories will show this. Unless they’ve been laid off in the past, you will usually see a progression of personal and career growth, including ongoing learning activities and advancing areas of responsibility. Look for candidates who have a mind and heart for business, as the entrepreneurial spirit is a sign of a superstar candidate.

If you see these characteristics in your candidate, take the time to dig deeper to see if he or she may be a good fit for your company. Need help recruiting amazing candidates? Look to the support of Advance Staffing Solutions today.

Why You Should be Recruiting More Passive Candidates

Raza Rauf on June 19, 2015

In the recruitment market, there is always a push for hiring the highest quality of candidates, and placing them in the jobs that are the best match. But this often poses as a huge challenge, because these great candidates are hard to find in high-demand industries. This is when recruiters turn to passive candidate recruitment methods to seek out professionals who may not be currently looking for a job right now, but whom have the right qualities for placement in an upcoming job order. Here are several reasons you should be recruiting more passive candidates for your organization.

What is it about passive candidates that is so appealing to recruiters?

You may be asking yourself, “Why would I want to put any energy out trying to recruit passive candidates, if they are already employed by someone else?” This is a valid question, but it goes much deeper than this. Passive candidates often represent the cream-of-the-crop in terms of the types of candidates you want to build a relationship with. They have several key advantages over active candidates, including:

They’ve already earned the experience and accolades that are desired by top companies, so their value is greatly elevated.
They have excellent references and backgrounds that are desired by companies, so you can leverage this for negotiating higher placement fees.
They are well connected with other leading candidates, so once you have won a passive candidate over, their colleagues will follow – making your job as a recruiter easier.

These are just a few advantages you will find when working with passive candidates. How can you start attracting and building a nice pipeline of passive candidates? Read on for some tips on finding and recruiting passive candidates.

3 ways to find and recruit passive candidates

Use these tips for finding those top passive candidates and getting them on board.

1. Use a personalized recruitment approach

Instead of sending out canned email messages that sound “salesy,” why not take a more personalized approach to meeting passive candidates? Connect with them on social networks and at local business networking events. Introduce yourself, what you do, and how you can help them reach their career goals. Then follow up in a non-threatening way, maybe over a cup of coffee.

2. Find out what passive candidates want

As early as possible, get to know what each passive candidate is looking for in terms of the next level of their career growth. Maybe they are already at the top of their game and are looking for a change? Be open and just ask them outright what they may be looking for in the next three-to-five years.

3. Offer passive candidates what they want

Now that you have an idea of what a passive candidate wants, stay in touch and offer them opportunities to get to know some of your best clients. Work out a strategy to get them a position that meets their needs with one of your companies. Go one step beyond what other recruiters are offering with a sweet compensation and career growth package they cannot resist.

5 Reasons Why Happy Employees are Better Employees

Raza Rauf on June 11, 2015

Is a happier workforce somehow better? Many workplace experts believe so. A recent PayScale report indicates that as many as 70 percent of American employees currently working are unhappy and unfulfilled at work. This leads to several problems, including high employee turnover rates and low productivity levels. This is costing businesses billions of dollars in lost revenues.

In this article, we will talk about the matter of employee happiness and give five reasons why a happy workforce adds up to better employees.

Reason 1. Employees produce 10 percent more work when they are happy

A University of Warwick (UK) study showed that when workers were happy and satisfied with their jobs, productivity increased by as much as 10 to 12 percent over previous levels of job performance. This means that if your workers are happy, they are more engaged and probably working harder to achieve their goals. The company ultimately benefits from this effort.

Reason 2. Happy employees tend to stick around longer than unhappy ones

As stated earlier, the PayScale report indicated that happy employees are getting to be harder to create. When employees are given the right compensation, rewarding tasks, and opportunities to shine, they are more apt to stay in there for the long haul. Loyal employees equate to greater employee retention rates and the chance to get some ROI from recruitment efforts.

Reason 3. Engaged employees create more sales revenues for the company

A Gallup poll published in a popular psychology journal indicated that employees who are happy and engaged in their jobs tend to generate more sales revenues over time for the companies they work for – as much as $300 billion in the year studied. The very perception of working for a great company creates more favorable attitudes towards promoting the company, and this includes backing up company offerings to get more sales.

Reason 4. Happy employees tend to infect the organization with more happy employees

When employees are happy and they show it at work, this tends to reflect on the corporate culture. Humans are more apt to follow their peers. A positive attitude and performance of even a single employee encourages others to feel the same way.

Reason 5. Happy employees help to bring in other happy employees through referrals

If employees are truly happy in their jobs, they are usually willing to refer their colleagues to the company. This means your company can gain access to some of the best passive candidates out there, without as much of the work that goes into sourcing them.

Take steps to find out what makes your employees happy, put effort into creating a better corporate culture, and your organization can benefit from the above perks.

Can You Spot the Signs of a Bad Hire?

Raza Rauf on June 5, 2015

Being responsible for making hires at your company can be stressful because of the weight of making a new hire. You need to sift through hundreds of resumes, conduct multiple interviews with at least a handful of candidates and then whittle the crop down to a final two candidates. Then, you need to make a final decision and hope the candidate you choose turns out to be a successful hire.

The sad thing here is that the hire could turn out to be a bad hire. How do you spot a bad hire? Here are some signs to note:

I Just Want a Job

One of the biggest signs of a bad hire is a candidate who just wants a job, any type of job. The candidate might convey that he or she does not care what type of job they work simply because they need a job. But, in the long run, this can turn into a major problem. The employee will become disengaged because the pay is too low or because the job tasks are too tedious. When this happens, the employee could begin to affect the office culture in a negative way.

Lack of Flexibility

When you come across a candidate who has very little flexibility, you could be running into a bad hire. Someone with a lack of flexibility will fail to adjust to suggestions made by HR or management and continue to operate using tactics they are comfortable with from earlier points in their career. A person who does not have flexibility will also be closed-minded towards new ideas, which can result in a negative impact on your culture.

Expanding from a Small Role to a Large Role

Another sign of a bad hire is when you hand the reigns of a larger role to a candidate who worked in a smaller role in the past. The candidate might have had success in a smaller role at a previous company, but it does not mean that success will translate to a larger role at your company. These candidates tend to use strategies from their smaller role that wind up not working in their larger role. The employee might become frustrated, angered or develop a poor attitude because things are not working out well.

The Prima Donna

The prima donna is a common type of bad hire in today’s professional world. This person is typically a go-getter, highly motivated and competitive in everything they do at the office. But, this can also turn into a problem if the candidate is hired for a management position. The prima donna candidate will either force subordinates to conform to their way of doing things or have them removed from the picture.
Spotting bad hires before you offer employment helps cut back on the money spent and the time wasted. If you can spot any of these in a candidate, be sure you dig deeper into the candidate before offering employment or removing the candidate from consideration.

Are You Conducting Post-Interview Reviews?

Raza Rauf on May 29, 2015

Companies are always looking for new ways to improve their hiring decisions because the cost of a bad hire can be astronomical. Companies also do not want to waste the time of the candidates they interview. This is why some companies have begun conducting post-interview reviews. More companies should take part in this exercise in order to improve how the interviews are handled and which candidates are hired. Learn how to conduct post-interview reviews the right way.

Include the Entire Team

One of the most important parts of conducting a post-interview review is to include the entire team. This means that every single employee who took part in the interview process should be involved in this meeting. This team should meet after each interview is conducted. So, if three different employees interviewed each candidate, they should be part of the team. If the HR head first scheduled the interview based on the resume submitted, this person should also be part of the team.

Discuss Impressions

Each person who took part in the interview process should be allowed to share their impressions of each candidate they met. The impressions discussed should be based on the notes taken by each employee who had the chance to interview candidates. Talk about any questions the candidates asked about the job or the company. Also talk about how the candidates answered the questions posed to them.

Allow Honest Discussion

When conducting such a review, you need to allow for honest discussion. This means that all employees should be honest in their opinions of candidates without worrying of repercussions from management or co-workers. If the members of this team cannot be honest, then you will not be improving your hiring process or interview process.

Rank Candidates

The post-interview review is the perfect time for your team to rank the candidates that have been interviewed to this point. Encourage each member of the team to rank each candidate he or she has interviewed from most likely to hire to least likely to hire. The ranking should be done based on the information gathered from the interview. The team members should conduct their rankings based on who they feel should be hired for the open job.

Build a List of Second Interview Candidates

Another goal of this team should be to build a list of candidates who will be contacted for a second round of interviews. It is possible that all of the candidates might be asked back for a second interview, but most likely it will be a shorter list. Even if members of your team are not going to take part in the second interview, they should still be notified of which candidates are being asked back.

Conducting post-interview reviews helps a company improve their hiring process and how the interviews are conducted. Implement these reviews today to hire the most qualified people for your open jobs.

When to Say “No” to Qualified Candidates

Raza Rauf on May 22, 2015

As a hiring manager, HR executive or recruiter, there comes a time when you need to say no to qualified candidates. The reasons will vary, but the situation will always be difficult because of their qualifications. Who ever thought that companies would need to turn down qualified candidates for open jobs?

The truth of the matter is that this actually happens in today’s business world. So, when does this type of situation arise – when do you know to say “no” to a candidate who is otherwise qualified?

Position Has Been Filled

One of the most common reasons why you will need to say no to qualified candidates is that the position has been filled by someone else. You might receive 50 or more resumes for your job opening and you will likely have a handful of them turn into qualified candidates. This means that one person will be chosen and three or four of them will receive disappointing news. You must have tact when informing other qualified candidates that someone else has been chosen. Be honest with them and thank them for applying.

Position Has Been Eliminated

It is quite possible that open jobs at companies could be eliminated even after a search to fill them has already begun. Reasons for eliminating the position will vary, but you should never string along candidates if you know the position is going to be cut from the payroll. Maybe the job duties have been distributed to current employees. Maybe there isn’t enough room left in the budget for the position. Or, maybe there isn’t enough work for the position to be filled right now. Whatever the reason, be sure you tell the candidates as soon as possible so they can look elsewhere for work.

Position Has Been Changed

It is also possible that the position could have changed between the time it became available and the time you began vetting potential candidates to fill it. If this is the case, you might have a couple of qualified candidates who no longer will be in the running for the job. This means you will have to say no to them. Make sure you explain that the position has been altered and that even though they were qualified previously, your company is moving in another direction.

Candidate is Overqualified

Another reason for saying no to a candidate is the fact that he or she might be overqualified for the position. Companies tend to shy away from hiring overqualified candidates due to one major issue; the candidate, once hired, could become bored with the job and begin causing issues at the workplace. This is when a company’s culture could take a major hit.
As you can see, there are a few common reasons why you might need to say “no” to a qualified candidate. Just make sure you handle the rejection with tact and professionalism so as not to create a bad image for your company. Keep the candidate in mind for future opportunities and if you can, offer them another position that’s suitable for their skills, or refer them to a staffing agency that can place them into a position sooner.

What Costs More – Overtime or Additional Help?

Raza Rauf on May 14, 2015

Most companies make an effort to try and control staffing costs in order to get the highest return on investment. Unfortunately, sometimes the work necessitates extending work hours of hourly employees. When this happens, the company may face higher than normal overtime costs. If your company is concerned with the rising use of overtime, you may be wondering if bringing in additional help can reduce these expenses?

The simple answer is, “Yes”. To explain further, let’s take a look at how bringing in additional help can support a more balanced staffing budget.

Determine your actual staffing needs

Before you start hiring additional people, you’ll want to understand the reasons for the increased need of workers. This demand may be temporary, seasonal, or permanent. For example, if you are in experiencing a sudden increase in the number of orders placed by customers could it be because of a new product line? Or is the surge as a result of a temporary trend or a busy season? Consider if the increased need for staff will fall back to normal levels in a few weeks or months, or if you anticipate a study increase.

Do the comparison math

Each job can and will differ, but it is possible to conduct a mathematical comparison of overtime vs. temporary staffers. To do this, choose a job type and calculate the actual annual cost of a new hire. Be sure to include the annual salary, recruitment costs, on boarding and training fees, as well as benefits for this new hire. Now compare this total with the annual cost of overtime for each hourly employee who will work 40+ hours during the peak season or project. Remember each person will provide the same tasks.

To calculate the cost of hiring a temp employee, calculate the annual cost of the new hire at the temporary services rate sans the overtime costs. Also subtract the cost of benefits and recruitment these because the agency will take care of this for you at no additional cost. Subtract the temporary employee total from the overtime employee total to get an idea of the savings. This is the savings for each temporary employee that you bring on instead of paying for overtime.

Performance factors to consider

Outside of the math, there are some other things to consider when deciding between paying overtime and hiring temps. When employees are forced to work more than 40 hours on a regular basis, this can lead to an overall drop in morale, productivity, and employee engagement. In other words, the employees that you have currently may be dealing with the stress and overwhelm of having to take on extra work all the time. Left unchecked, this can cause employee absenteeism, turnover and even more workplace injuries. When you hire temps you have fresh people on board who are willing to work hard to maintain productivity levels without risking your best people.

Give a staffing agency a call today and let them help you better manage your staffing costs through a custom temporary staffing plan.

Are You Giving Killer Customer Service to Your Candidates?

Raza Rauf on May 7, 2015

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.

Simple Ways to Promote Employee Loyalty and Motivation

Raza Rauf on April 30, 2015

As an HR manager, it is part of your job to promote loyalty and motivation within the workplace. These are two items that are needed in order to keep employees engaged so they can be productive. If you want to prevent employees from leaving for greener pastures, then make sure that loyalty and motivation are on the top of your to-do list.

Here, we will discuss how you can promote these two aspects so employees don’t start looking for a new job.

Improve Hiring Practices

The easiest answer to promoting loyalty and motivation among employees is to improve hiring practices. This is easier said than done for most companies, because it is nearly impossible to avoid making bad hires. No matter how intricate and in-depth your screening process is, every now and then a bad candidate will slip through the cracks and wind up receiving an offer of employment. Always keep in mind that happy employees will be less likely to search for work elsewhere.

Offer Strong Benefits Package

Not every company will offer employees a strong benefits package. This is a major reason why employees are unhappy with their job and tend to find work elsewhere. Your company needs to offer a strong benefits package in order to keep employees happy and loyal to your company. The package should include health insurance, a 401(k) plan, vision, dental and other perks. Paid time off, sick days and bonuses can also be lumped into this section because they are all benefits to some extent.

Access to Ongoing Training

Companies that offer their employees different types of training will find that their employees are loyal and motivated to succeed. Employees want to learn new skills and further their careers as much as possible. Training can either be offered in the office or at an off-site location. Some companies even help their employees pay for college classes if they choose to go back to school for an advanced degree.

Reward Strong Performances

If your company is in dire need of loyalty and motivation from employees, consider rewarding strong performances. This can be done by installing a rewards program that sends out gifts to employees once per quarter, or you can pick and choose when to reward employees for a job well done. Rewards can include extra paid time off, gift cards to local businesses, tickets to sporting events or concerts and even a plaque or an assigned parking spot.

Competitive Compensation

Even though it is the most important part of keeping employees happy, we still need to mention that your company must provide employees with a competitive salary and benefits. If employees working the same jobs are being paid more at another company, you will likely need to fill those jobs quite often due to high turnover.

Contact The Advance Group Today

It is not difficult to keep employees loyal and motivated in today’s workplace. So long as you offer workers one or more of the items discussed in this post, you should see an increase in loyalty and a drop in turnover rate.

Why Candidates Like Rejection Letters — Sort Of

Raza Rauf on April 24, 2015

A job search can be stressful, no matter how seasoned or qualified someone is. Much of the stress is caused when companies fail to respond to applicants for weeks following an interview. A good practice is to send out a rejection letter promptly to all the candidates who did not get chosen for an employment opportunity this round.

Regardless of what you may think, job seekers like rejection letters – well sort of – because they have a final answer from the company about the job. They at least appreciate the fact that your company has taken the time to personally let them know the outcome so they can move on.

Read on to learn how to handle sending out candidate rejection letters.

Follow Up with a Phone Call First

The first thing you need to do is follow up with the candidate with a phone call. The call should inform the candidate that the company has already offered, or will make an offer, to another candidate for the job. Then, make sure you thank the candidate for their time and assure them that their information will be kept on file for any future openings. The follow-up phone call should not be the last piece of communication. It should be followed by the rejection letter.

How to Write the Rejection Letter

One of the most important things you must include in a rejection letter is how much you appreciate the time the candidate took during the application and interview process. You also need to be as personal as possible. Never address the letter as, “To whom it may concern.” Make sure you use the candidate’s first name. Also, mention something positive you noticed about the candidate from the interview. This will show them you care.

The rejection letter must get right to the point, even if you have already called the candidate and spoken to them on the phone about the decision. Do not ramble on about the company, the candidate’s experience, or anything else. The sooner you get to the point, the sooner the candidate will be able to accept the rejection and move towards applying for more jobs.

If the candidate would fit nicely in your corporate culture, and might be a fit for other open jobs, make sure you mention this in your rejection letter. Even though you are sending a rejection letter for this job, it does not mean the candidate will not find employment at your company. Encourage them to apply for other open jobs, but only do so if you truly believe they will be successful at your company. This means that you should never tell a candidate something you do not mean in the letter. It can come back to haunt you in the future.

One final tip; the rejection letter is your company’s final opportunity to make a good impression on the candidate, who will surely tell colleagues about your application process. Be sure you come across as professional as possible.

Have a “Quirky” Company Culture? How to Find the Perfect Candidate Fit For You!

Raza Rauf on April 16, 2015

Is your company highly creative when it comes to the recruitment process? In today’s world, it’s becoming increasingly more popular for companies to come up with unique and sometimes even hilarious ways of recruiting people. Weird and unusual interview questions, activities, and quirky corporate cultures often come into play.

However, in some cases an unusual hiring process or corporate culture can create challenges when it comes to identifying candidates who are the right fit for the organization. The quirky company culture that you love can backfire. Some candidates may be taken aback by the process that you use to select and interview them. They may even refuse to apply for jobs out of fear that they won’t fit in well with the set of values and ideas your corporate culture embraces.

Your company may be quirky if:

You have an elaborate application process that uses humor in many places
You use odd or silly interview questions and tasks for candidates
The work environment is highly creative and filled with lots of playful features

So, if you identified your company as unusual or different in terms of the type of culture you embrace, it’s possible that it’s becoming difficult to find the right candidates. Here are some ways that you can get around this and hire the best talent with the right candidate fit.

Be upfront about your corporate culture

When thinking recruitment, the last thing you want to do is spring a surprise on a candidate – not the least of which should be your corporate culture. Have access to some marketing materials that highlight your corporate culture with visuals and audio tools. Slowly introduce candidates to your corporate culture. Watch for their reaction. If a candidate reels back suddenly upon learning about your corporate culture, there’s a good chance they will not be a good fit

Focus on the candidate experience

There is a lot of research around the impact the candidate experience has on the long-term success of an employee. This should be your ultimate focus when you are interviewing prospective employees. Try to put yourself into the candidate shoes for a moment. Is the application process intuitive? Is the candidate exposed to a positive impression of your company? Is the recruitment team proactively reaching out and then following up with each candidate? Make sure to zip up all of these things in order to improve the candidate experience.

Assess candidate skills with industry testing

It can be very difficult to determine if a candidate is right for the job within the span of just a few moments of reviewing a resume and meeting with them in an interview. Do not expect some quirky or challenging project assigned during an interview to accurately define a candidate’s suitability for your company. Instead, work with your staffing agency to use candidate assessment testing to validate their work-related skills, personality, and corporate culture fit.

Use a multi-layer interview process

Sometimes, creative companies do not spend enough time evaluating the behavioral aspects of candidate interviews. This is why a multiple interview process that includes several layers of team member participation is often a great way to determine a candidate’s fit for the company. People often have different perspectives when meeting someone, therefore, take the time to have at least a few of the team members present during initial interviews. Gather objective feedback and use this for making your hiring decision.

Hire temps first, employees second

Perhaps one of the best ways to recruit for a quirky company is to start everyone out as a temporary employee. This gives your company a chance to benefit from pre-screened candidates who will then have to prove themselves within the first few months on the job. Most staffing agencies have very strict pre-screening requirements and will only send candidates who they believe will be a good fit. If you have a problem with a candidate you can then easily replace them with someone more suitable. This reduces the risk of hiring the wrong person.

Want to learn more about how your company culture could affect your hiring process, or find temps to fit in with your quirky company? Contact Advance Staffing Solutions today!