What Will Employers Find When They Compare Your Resume and LinkedIn Profile?

Raza Rauf on November 12, 2015

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.

How to Stay Off a Recruiter’s Blacklist

Raza Rauf on September 28, 2015

Trying to find a job today is not easy. Even with the help of the Internet and social media, landing a job you want can take months because hundreds of people apply for the same jobs as you. Turning your job search into a success can be done by working with a recruiter. One thing you must know when working with a recruiter is that you need to stay off of their blacklist. Being on a recruiter’s blacklist can ruin your job search, so follow these tips to stay off this list!

Exaggerating Skills or Claims

One of the biggest reasons why a recruiter will put you on their blacklist is because you have been caught exaggerating your skills or claims on your resume. It is understandable that people exaggerate a little bit on their resumes, but it can be very detrimental their job search. Recruiters will be able to see through lies on your resume because they read thousands of resumes per year. Avoid exaggerating about your skills or claims on your resume to stay off a recruiter’s blacklist.

Self-Employed Viewed as Unemployed

Even though this seems a little harsh, many recruiters view self-employed job seekers as unemployed job seekers, even if the job seeker has been running a successful business independently. It is difficult to change this perception in front of recruiters, but it can be done. Make sure you include some stats about your independently owned business that proves you have been working for the past five-to-ten years, and not just sitting around the house.

Aggression Does Not Work

Even though being an aggressive job seeker can be better than being a passive one, it can get you blacklisted by a recruiter if you work with one. Contacting a recruiter multiple times per week via phone or email will get you blacklisted for sure. There is no need to constantly bother a recruiter about an open job or an interview you had with a company. If the company liked you, the recruiter will reach out to you when necessary.

Failure to Fit the Culture

Job seekers could have an incredible resume and all the references in the world, but not fitting in with a company’s culture could cause you to hit the blacklist. This can be determined through screening processes, an interview with the company and much more. If this happens more than once, a recruiter might have to blacklist you to avoid wasting anyone else’s time.

Stay off of a recruiter’s blacklist by keeping aggression to a minimum, avoiding exaggeration on your resume and by fitting into a company’s culture.

Your Perfect Hire is a Special Bond – How to Nurture It

Raza Rauf on August 27, 2015

It is not often that a company comes across a perfect hire, but when it does, it is important to nurture the relationship with that hire from the start. The company must build a bond, making it as strong as possible, so the employee stays with the company for the long haul. Nurturing the relationship with a perfect hire can be tricky, but it can be done.

Here, we will discuss three great ways for your company to nurture their relationship with a perfect hire.

1. Share Mutual Passions with the Employee

The old adage “opposites attract” really does not apply when a company is looking for the perfect hire. Companies rely on their employees having the same values and beliefs when it comes to business in order to succeed. When employees do not share the same views as the company, the culture and bottom line will suffer. Because of this, companies must look for employees who share like passions in order to turn them into perfect hires.

In terms of sharing like passions, two important ones are culture and the job opportunity. This can be determined during the job interview. If the candidate does not show enthusiasm for the job, they likely won’t change if hired. The same can be said for the office culture. If the candidate does not seem receptive to the company culture now, there’s a strong chance it will remain the same if hired.

2. Paint a Realistic Picture of the Company

The job interview is the first time you will present your company to a potential employee. It might make you a little nervous at first, but the more realistic a picture you paint, the more receptive the candidate will be to what you have to offer. As the interviewer, you cannot lie about the company or the job because eventually the truth will be set free. If you put on a front or lie, the candidate will likely decline your job offer and even warn others about applying in the future.

3. Seek the Whole Truth

Do your best to seek the truth when screening job candidates. This will help you down the road when cultivating relationships with any perfect hires. It is not uncommon for job seekers to tell tiny lies on their resumes or in their cover letters. You can check their honesty by looking into their social media profiles and other information found on the Internet. If none of it matches up, then you have an issue with honesty. If the candidate boasts how strong their communications skills are, and they submit a strong video resume, then you likely found a truthful candidate.

As you can see, it takes quite a bit to cultivate a relationship with a perfect hire, but the steps are well worth the positive outcome. By making this effort, your company will reap the rewards of a long and positive working relationship with your new hire and will get a good ROI from this.

5 Ways To Find Hardworking Millennials

Raza Rauf on August 18, 2015

Millennials are overtaking the workforce as baby boomers continue to retire, which is why companies are trying to find new ways to land hardworking millennials. Some are incredibly easy to find because they work internships with a company before receiving an offer of employment. Others might not be so easy to find because they do not want to be found, or are not actively looking for a new job. Use these five tips for finding hardworking millennials.

Check Their Hunger for a Job

One of the best ways to find a hardworking millennial is to check their hunger for a job. There are millennials out there who accept an entry-level job and then walk away from it two weeks to one month later because they feel that they are above the work they are doing, simply because of where they went to school. In order to avoid this type of behavior and attitude, you must perform a hunger check. Tell the candidate up front that they will be doing entry-level work, and if the conversation ends, so be it. If it doesn’t, you might have someone hungry for the job.

Brutal Honesty During the Interview Works

The second method to finding hardworking millennials is to be brutally honest with the candidate during the job interview. Explain to the candidate exactly what the job entails, what you don’t want at your office and what you do expect at the office in terms of behavior and attitude. If the candidate is still sitting there at the end of your speech, they must really want the job.

Be Open to Shaking Things Up

There are companies out there that love employing millennial workers because they know how to handle them. They are open to shaking things up at work. There is nothing wrong with being a fair boss who is also tough on employees. It is one of the best ways to get strong work from employees. In some instances, you have to be like a tough parent with millennials in order for them to perform at the levels they are truly capable of.

Candidates Show Themselves in Interviews

Whether you know it or not, candidates will show their true selves during job interviews. Even if you think they are putting on an act simply to impress you and receive the offer, at some point they will show you who they truly are. If this is the case, and it scares or frightens you, do not hire that candidate. You will only live to regret the decision.

Help Millennials Advance

Do your best to help millennials advance when you find strong ones, even if it means they climb the corporate ladder at a different company. This will help your company build a strong reputation for taking care of employees, which will make it easier to recruit top talent in the future.

Try to use all five of these methods in order to bring in the best talent possible for your company. If you need more help finding and bringing talented millennials or other employees into your workplace, contact Advance Staffing Solutions today!

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.

Unemployed? Job Seeking? Here’s What You Need to Know

Raza Rauf on June 9, 2015

Finding a job when currently employed is one thing; finding a job when unemployed is an entirely different experience. Studies have shown that it can be harder to find a job when unemployed, because some hiring managers view this as a negative mark for a candidate. An employed candidate is somehow more favorable than someone between jobs? It doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense.

Fortunately, these attitudes are changing. Today, hiring managers understand that sometimes people face periods of unemployment through no fault of their own. If you are currently in this predicament, take heart – there are some ways to make the most of this time in your career.

1. Don’t sit around waiting for a job offer – get out there and grab one!

As an unemployed person, you are actually in a unique position to be the master of your job search. Instead of having to sneak around a job trying to look for work and go to interviews, you can dedicate all your time to finding a great new job. Get up early every day and treat it like a job, searching for work, going to job fairs, volunteering in the community, heading to your local temporary staffing agency, and connecting with recruiters on social media accounts.

2. Good news – you can start working immediately.

The positive side of being unemployed while looking for a new job is that you can start immediately if an employer calls you up. Make sure to emphasize this at all interviews and when talking with the recruiters at your temporary agency. Check in frequently, and be sure to accept part-time and even one-day assignments while you look for something better.

3. Take on a temporary assignment in the meantime to stay active.

The best thing you can do for your career and spirits is to stay active in your career by taking on temporary assignments. Be open to trying assignments that may be somewhat outside your normal types of work tasks. Stay in good terms with local companies by accepting assignments, being punctual and professional at all times.

4. Make sure to get the support and guidance for your career.

Being unemployed, even for short periods of time, can be hard on the psyche. This means you will want to stay connected to others by attending unemployment benefit meetings, support groups, and remaining a part of the world. If you have a circle of friends and family around you, rooting you on, you will be better able to face the daily aspects of finding a job with a good outlook.

5. Try learning some new marketable skills or head back to school.

The other advantage you have as an unemployed job seeker is that now have the time to learn new marketable skills or to finally head back to school to earn that degree you’ve always dreamed of. Take careful inventory of the skills you have now, what’s lacking, and if training can close the gap so you can become more valuable in the workforce. Many states have workforce development programs that can include financial support for earning a certificate or degree in a certain industry that’s in need of skilled labor.

Use the above steps to launch your new career in a positive way. Do not despair. A new job is just around the corner.

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.

A Short Work Experience Doesn’t Keep You Out of the Race!

Raza Rauf on May 5, 2015

Are you a new college grad with limited career experience? Have you been working a series of short term jobs with no real direction? Do not let a short work experience keep you from landing a new job. Short work experience should not prevent you from landing the job of your dreams in your industry, but it can hurt if you do not know how to sell that experience to potential employers.

Here, we will discuss how you can sell your skills and take the focus off the short work experience to employers so you can land a job.

Explain Your Skills Learned

One of the first things you need to do when interviewing for a job with a short work experience is to explain the skills learned in that short period. After explaining the skills learned, talk about how they will be useful to the company if you are hired. You should also talk about any training received while at previous companies or if you are planning to return to school for an advanced degree. You can also share other experience like volunteer work, special projects completed, and freelance work performed. All of this information will only help your case when interviewing for a job.

Discuss Your Responsibilities

Another good idea when trying to land a job with short work experience is to talk about the responsibilities you held at prior companies. Maybe you worked for one year or more as a department manager. Maybe you were put in charge of payroll at a smaller company. Both of these items will help you land a new job even if you have short work experience during your career. The more responsibilities you have to discuss, the better chance you have at the job.

Stress Your Educational Background

For most people with a short work background, many of them are just out of college or returning to the workforce after raising a family. Because of these two reasons, you must stress your education background. Be prepared to inform the company about the degree you earned, which classes were most important to your major, any internships you worked and any clubs you were involved in that would help you learn about your profession. By talking about your education, you show the employer how dedicated you were while in school to land a job such as the one you are interviewing for right now.

Explain the Short-Term Jobs

If your short work experience includes temporary jobs or a lot of job hopping, you need to disclose these positions to the employer. Instead of trying to hide these jobs, you must talk to the employer about them and explain why you worked temporary jobs or moved around a lot. Reasons could include you wanted to gain as much experience in a short period of time as possible or that you were laid off from your permanent job and wanted something to hold you over until a new full-time job came along.
The bottom line here is that having a short work experience should not hold you back from landing a new job so long as you take advantage of the tips outlined above. You can fast-track your way to career success by taking on temporary assignments through Advance Staffing and earning more career experience at the same time as getting paid.

Can You Tell if a Candidate Will be Reliable?

Raza Rauf on April 7, 2015

As a hiring manager, much of your responsibility stems from having a large hand in the success of the company and its employees. Hiring managers must perform due diligence prior to making any decisions on who to add to the payroll, which is why they must vet and screen candidates extremely thoroughly. There will be some who slip through the cracks, but the less this happens, the stronger the company will become.

One thing all hiring managers must look for is whether or not candidates will be reliable. Is there a surefire way to predict a candidate’s future success? Let’s talk about ways to evaluate reliability.

Advertise Open Jobs Wisely

It goes without saying that if you advertise open jobs on industry-specific websites, you should have no problem finding reliable candidates. If you post your job ads on random websites and in forums, however, you will likely attract a lot of undesirables to the post. You want to avoid attracting candidates who are simply seeking out any open job. This is a recipe for disaster.

Dig Deep Into Candidates’ Job History

All hiring managers should be looking into the job history of their top candidates. This helps the hiring manager know what type of worker the candidate has been in the past, which is an indicator of how they will operate in the future. Take a look at how long the candidate remained at previous jobs. Did they jump around often or did they stay for at least two years? If the answer is the latter, you should have a reliable candidate on your hands.

Choose the Right Interview Questions

Just because you bring a candidate in for an interview, it does not mean you must offer the job to them. The same can be said if you bring a candidate in for a second- or third-round of interviews. The interview is the best time to determine if the candidate will be reliable or not, but you must choose the right questions to ask. Ask the candidate where he sees himself in the next five or 10 years. Ask the candidate why they want this job. Also, have them tell you what their view is of an ideal work situation. You should be able to garner their reliability based on the answers to these questions.

Use a Staffing Agency

Another great way to tell if a candidate will be reliable is to work with a staffing agency to fill your open jobs. The staffing agency will have a pool of candidates who have already been screened and can do all of the legwork for you in the hiring process. When you work with a staffing firm, you are more likely to secure a top-notch candidate who will be reliable because of the extensive screening performed by the firm.

Determining the reliability of a candidate prior to offering employment can be difficult, but it does not have to be impossible if you follow the tips discussed here today. Contact Advance Staffing Solutions today if you have more questions on gauging employee reliability.

Have Two Great Candidates? How do You Decide Whom to Hire?

Raza Rauf on February 17, 2015

It happens in every hiring manager’s life: two great candidates present themselves for a single job opening. This can be quite the dilemma because it’s growing ever more difficult to find the best people for certain positions and so if two come along it’s like striking a goldmine. But, the company must make a decision and hire the best person for this particular job.

Here’s how to decide whom to hire, when presented with this type of scenario.

Review the Actual Job Needs

After you’ve conducted the interviews, go back and review the actual needs of the job itself. Are there any special skills or experience that one candidate has a little more than the other? It’s easy to hire general candidates to fill jobs, but you don’t want to hire another “warm body” in this case. Make sure you carefully weigh each candidate’s unique skills, knowledge, and past career achievements against the job you are hiring for.

Get a Second Interview Lined Up Now

If you are unsure of which candidate to hire, ask each candidate back for a second round of interviews – onsite or through your preferred staffing agency. This time, however, ask another member of the work team or a staffing manager to be present so you can get another person’s feedback on the candidates. This can help you to avoid hiring someone based on emotion or first impressions only. Base your interview on a short, fun behavioral activity following some more in-depth interview questions.

Conduct a Thorough Background Check

Things can often be revealed with conducting past employment reference checks and background screenings. Take the time to do this well, carefully asking questions that probe a little more into each candidate’s suitability for the job. Write down your notes and go over them privately to make a better decision. You also have the option to let your staffing agency handle this part of the process so you can hire the best candidate.

Test the Candidates with a Contract Project

If you are still at a conundrum after going through the above steps, then you could up the ante by offering a paid contract project, afterwards you will decide on who to hire based on the results. Try to find a project that will challenge each candidate and enable them to show off their skills, while being related to the actual job they are vying for. Work with the management team to come up with a suitable project and offer a generous payment for the project once completed.

Hire Them Both if They are Perfect for the Company

If you are still not sure which candidate to hire for the singular job, why not create another position so you can hire them both? This could be a win-win for your business, because you get two amazing candidates at once. Develop a plan for onboarding both candidates with your staffing agency. One candidate may be willing to consider a slightly different assignment that will meet your business needs so they can get a foot into your company. Be open to this option, or at least consider one for a later hire.

Can You Spot Potential in Lower-Level Employees?

Raza Rauf on January 29, 2015

Do you have the ability to spot potential in your lower-level employees? If not, you need to find ways to spot potential in lower-level employees immediately. It is better to hire in-house candidates for management positions than outside candidates for many reasons. These can include:

Lower cost to promote vs. hire new people
Succession planning with a reduced learning curve
Creates a more positive and productive workplace

We will discuss the best ways to spot potential in lower-level employees, so you can effectively hire new managers from within your ranks.

Assess Talent During Annual Performance Review

One of the first things you should do in spotting potential in lower-level employees is by assessing talent at your company during their annual performance review. Determine what the qualifications are for employees to finish current projects and if they have the skills and traits to move up in their career within your company. Also consider mentor evaluations, employee assessments, peer reviews and even surveys to determine which lower-level employees have management talent.

Match Talent with Requirements

The next step in spotting potential in lower-level employees is to match talent at your company with future requirements. You must layout the time for replacement, the readiness of the candidate and the assignment of individuals. A team of management employees from the company need to discuss all potential candidates for promotion and determine a slew of factors. Those factors include the promotability of the candidates, ratings based on performance, readiness for other roles in the company and any other strategy used to analyze talent within the organization.

Measure Regular Progress

Step number three in identifying potential in lower-level employees at your company is to measure regular progress of employees. This begins by figuring out which candidates are up for promotion and which jobs they are being groomed for so your candidate pool at the company does not get stretched too thin. Measure the progress of your current employees with how they complete projects, meet deadlines, deal with clients, handle issues in the office and much more.

Ask Employees What They Like

Another option is to ask employees what they like to do at work, what their strengths and weaknesses are and what type of role he or she thinks they would succeed in within the company. These questions need to be asked at annual performance reviews so you can add the information to their employee file for future reference.

Allow a Test-Drive

Our final step is a little outside the box, but it involves allowing the employee to test-drive the position. This does not mean promoting an employee into a new role and then removing him or her if it does not work. Instead, create an internal internship program that allows current employees to shadow managers within their department for a day or two to see what gets done at the higher levels. This will let you know if the person likes the idea of working that job and if he or she has the experience to work the position.

Implement Company Policies Now – Before It’s Too Late!

Raza Rauf on November 20, 2014

When an incident occurs at the office, it is too late to discuss implementing a policy to govern such a problem. All company policies need to be implemented right now, before it is too late and something happens that can affect the entire workforce and the success of the company. In this post we will discuss the best ways to implement new company policies and how to activate them immediately without confusing or overwhelming your employees.

Policy Must Solve Problem in Best Way Possible

One of the most important things you need to take into consideration when implementing a company policy is that it must solve the problem in the best way possible. This means that whatever the issue is within your office, it must be solved using this one policy. There should never be more than one policy created to solve the same issue. When this happens, the culture of your organization can take a hit because employees will be confused with the overlap of the company policies.

Policy Should be Reviewed by Multiple Teams

When implementing a new company policy, it should be reviewed by upper management, a select group of employees and the company’s legal team. All three of these groups will have different views about the policy and will be able to determine if it follows employment laws in the country. They should also review the policy and offer any changes, should they be deemed necessary.

Implementation Deadlines Must be Met

As you add new company policies to the employee handbook, it is important that implementation deadlines are always met. If you set a deadline for a new policy, do not push it back to a later date multiple times. This will only frustrate your employees and give them the sense that you are not comfortable with the policy that was created. You want to show confidence in the new policy and that you mean business when putting it into action.

Mandatory Meetings for Staff are a Must

Mandatory meetings must be held for your staff when implementing new company policies. If employees are absent from work when these meetings are held, you must provide make-up dates for meetings. Information about the new policy should be presented at the meetings and employees should be allowed to ask questions and express their concerns at the same time.

HR Must be on Same Page as Management

Another important aspect of implementing a new company policy now, before it is too late, is that the human resources department must be operating on the same page as the management team. No matter which department created the policy, everyone needs to work as a cohesive team in order to ensure success in rolling out the new policy.

Want more information on how to implement new company policies, or how to find candidates who fulfill company requirements? Contact the staffing experts at Advance Staffing Solutions today.