Know what you want

Sometimes hiring managers don’t clearly define what they want in an employee. This can lead to costly hiring mistakes and high turnover. A good job description creates a thought process that helps determine how critical the job is. It also helps identify the characteristics needed by the new employee filling the role. Using job descriptions will help your organization understand the skills and experience needed to enhance the success of your company.

Be more flexible

With the way the economy has been over the last few years it is understandable to remain a bit uncertain about your business prospects in the coming year, no matter how optimistic you are. If this is the case, consider bringing in contract or temporary staff. By using a staffing company you can quickly adjust your workforce based on any short or long term projects that come up throughout the year.

Train to retain

As the economy slowly but steadily improves, it will become more important to be competitive in the eyes of potential employees. One way to increase your competitive edge is by offering more training. According to Inc.com and surveys conducted by the Harvard Business Review, the top reason for employee turnover is lack of training. So how can you get your employee training to where it needs to be for 2012?

1. Determine areas of weakness in your existing skill sets
2. Utilize ongoing education and training opportunities at technical colleges
3. Take advantage of Grants for On-the-Job Training

So there you have it. Three Resolutions to help get your company off to a great 2012! If you have other Business Resolutions you would like to share please leave a message in our comment section below.

When companies grow, they tend to expand in a number of different directions all at once. For example, if a manufacturing firm takes on just two new customers in a relatively short amount of time, many different areas within the company from accounting to customer service are likely to feel some growing pains.

New staff members are often needed to meet the demands of increased business or production and ensure that existing customers continue to receive the same level of quality service. With this new found growth, company managers suddenly find themselves in the market for new personnel in several departments from shipping to purchasing.

Using Staffing Services for Current Growth Management

Staffing agencies are specially equipped to help companies fulfill personnel needs without diverting managers’ time and resources away from other essential duties, relieving them from all of these additional HR responsibilities:

• Searching and advertising: Staffing agencies maintain large databases of potential employees all year long and never have to start from scratch to build a talent pool, saving time and money on job advertising and personnel searches.
• Resume screening: Recruitment pros are resume experts who can weed out unqualified candidates in no time. By accessing specific parameters within their extensive database, they can prepare a relatively short list of only the most qualified candidates whose salary requirements fit within the company’s predetermined range.
• Interviewing: Scheduling and conducting interviews is a days-long process that can be complicated by legal issues. Staffing services know precisely what can and cannot be asked of job candidates.
• Skills testing: A number of different skills and personality tests can be conducted by a recruiter to find the candidate who is the best fit for the job opening.
• Negotiating: Recruiters can also manage all aspects of salary and benefit negotiations based on an individual’s company’s policies.
• Background screening: Staffing agencies have the resources available to conduct background checks, examine driving records, and verify past employment for job candidates.
• Drug testing: Staff recruitment agencies are able to help companies limit risk and liability by conducting drug testing services for clients including saliva tests, urinalysis, and hair analysis.
• New hire processing: Last but not least, the right staffing agency will be equipped to process all insurance and tax forms once a hiring decision has been made.

Using Staffing Services to Spark New Growth

Not all hiring should be reactionary, however. By anticipating and planning for growth in new areas, business owners can recruit new team members whose role within the company is to bring in new business and help foster and nurture new client relationships. Inevitably new clients will generate increased profits which can then be fed back into the company for further growth. To limit financial risks of taking on new staff, the recruiter can help managers determine whether contract employees, temporary employees, or direct hire employees will make the most suitable match.

It is fairly plain to see how staffing agencies can help companies large and small manage growth as well as work as a catalyst for new growth.

Melvin Farmer completed his engineering degree at the height of the Depression. There were no jobs to be had, so he decided to go to South America to find work. His fiancée, Susan was the love of his life. As she saw him off on the ship, he promised he would be back in a year to marry her.

A year went by, then another. Susan never heard from Melvin. She received another marriage proposal from a man she was extremely fond of and accepted. When Melvin finally returned he was shocked that she had forsaken him!

We have had similar responses from our clients when they wait too long to make a job offer. They finally decide that Candidate C is their perfect choice and are appalled to find out that he took a job with a competitor. Often the candidate would have preferred to work for our client, but never had the chance to make that decision.

Even in a high unemployment market, desirable candidates are hot commodities. They have a “shelf life.” While we recommend putting each candidate through a thorough screening process (see Mistakes #1 – 15), this process should take a few weeks, not months.

I have always found it astonishing what people will reveal in interviews, that frankly, they would be better off not sharing. If you ask enough questions and listen well, they will often give you a good picture of their character, especially how they handle a difficult situation.

Here are a few red flags to look out for…

Red Flag #1: What they did to them is what they will do to you.

Recently I interviewed “Susan” for a sales position. I asked her several questions about her last position and her old employer. At first she bragged about her sales ability and her closings. That got me wondering why anyone would ever let her go, so I asked more questions. Then she started telling me how bad her last boss was. How the boss was mean and controlling and what a bad company this really was. Once this door opened a flood came out.

Knowing a bit about human nature, I quickly realized that the problem was most likely Susan. I knew that if I hired her, I would soon become the bad boss with the bad company.

Red Flag #2: Candidates who bring up personal problems in an interview will also bring those problems to the work place.

A few years ago I interviewed “Alice” for a management position. This position required someone who could start up a new division without much guidance and make it profitable within 6 months or a year. It was not an easy task and I needed a real go-getter for the position.

On paper, Alice looked wonderful and had more experience than anyone else I was looking at. The interview started well as she described her skills. Things took a turn for the worse when I started asking about her last position. She revealed that she had had some severe losses in her personal life which caused her to have an emotional breakdown and lose that job. She admitted that she was still an emotional wreck, but was now on medication and wanted to work. When talking about the situation, she almost broke down sobbing. Clearly, she still had issues that would affect her in the work place.

Red Flag #3 A lack of professionalism in an interview will carry through to the job.

This interview red flag covers numerous sins, such as being late to the interview, dressing inappropriately, using foul language, or even typos on their resume. I once had a newly graduated graphic artist show me her portfolio that contained several spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. She was unconcerned about the errors because she had gotten a good grade on the projects based on the artistic merit of the projects.

What she failed to realize is that while these projects may have gotten her a B in class, the business world is strictly pass/fail. One makes the sale or he doesn’t. The parts are manufactured correctly or they aren’t. The flier is 100% perfect or it isn’t. It’s all about being a professional and demanding a high standard of yourself and your work product.

Realize a candidate who is unprofessional in the interview will reflect poorly on your company if you hire them.

The M/WBE requirement accounts for 20% of the scoring system used by the state to evaluate proposals and can easily be the make/break point in determining which firm receives a contract.

The questions for the prime contractor are then:

1. How do I find good MBE and WBE partners and…
2. How do I utilize these firms to add value to my contract?

The State tries to help by publishing a list of all of the MBE and WBE certified firms on their web site. To find this list go to http://www.in.gov/idoa/2867.htm and click on the link “List of Certified Business Enterprises”. This will open an Excel Spreadsheet with over 6000 listings. (There aren’t 6000 entities, but each different product or service the firm offers is on a separate listing.) However sorting through this list can be time-consuming and risky if you aren’t familiar with the firm and need to depend on them to perform.

So what is your alternative? The solution is the tried and true principal of business – network and develop relationships with firms that you like and trust. Just like you do with other service providers, such as an Attorney or Dentist, develop a short list of quality MBE and WBE firms to call on when you have a need.

However, the truth is that many firms wait until almost the last moment to select their WBE and MBE sub-contractors. They have run out of time and they need a quick solution.

In either case, the easy way to find a WBE and MBE sub-contractor is to call Continental Inc, a certified WBE firm. Continental is a provider of staffing services for a wide variety of industries from manufacturing to construction and civil engineering as well as financial and clerical applications.

Let’s face it – every new project needs new staff. Finding and payrolling that staff is not only time consuming, but is a major cash drain for any company.

Continental answers these issues by:

1. Recruiting qualified candidates
2. Working with you to select the best candidate
3. Hiring the candidate(s) as a Continental employee(s) and contracting them to your company
4. Payrolling the candidate and providing all employee benefits (insurance, 401(k), vacation, holidays, etc.)

Continental sends an invoice out at the end of each month payable in 30 days (with approved credit), which stretches your cash by almost 60 days!

Continental takes the hassle out of adding staff.

Continental goes one step further for its clients. We have built relationships with several quality MBE firms. We will assist you in quickly locating a firm to fulfill your MBE requirement for your bid.

So the easy way to find a WBE and MBE partner is to simply call Continental at 765-778-9999. Hit “0″ and ask for Sales. We can usually send you a quote and a commitment letter within 24 hours and find you a MBE within 48 hours. We are here to make your job easy!!

Here is a true story. CG is a small manufacturer in Central Indiana. When the recession hit, their previously stable business revenue dropped like a stone. In just a few months business had fallen off so dramatically that they were forced to lay off half of their 40 man workforce. In 2010 business was slowly returning and CG could rehire most of the workers. However, things were still tough and the profit margins even slimmer than before.

Now comes 2011 and CG finds out that they will face an increase of 300 – 500% of their UI Tax. That means that they will have to pay over $900 on each of their 34 employees. That is over $30,000 for a very small, struggling manufacturer – an increase of $24,000 in one year – a down year. That is enough to hire at least one full time person, that now won’t be hired, can’t be hired, because of this tax.

The sad truth of this tax is that it hits the businesses hardest that are struggling the most from the recession. Businesses that struggled, were forced to lay off staff just to survive, are now seeing huge increases in their UI tax.

The Indiana Legislature needs to take a hard look at this tax and what it means to struggling businesses in Indiana. It is such a complicated tax that I doubt most of them could explain how it is figured.

Business owners and executives need to find out what their tax increase will be in 2011. It’s time for businesses to be heard. To understand more about this tax increase and what can be done about it, download the free booklet The Unemployment Tax Insurance eBooklet.