Summer is a time when many businesses are booming and need a little (or a lot, as the case may be) extra help in the labor department. The problem is, your business isn’t the only one looking to recruit the best, brightest, or most highly skilled summer laborers available. This means that there is a lot of competition for the most talented summer hires in the job market.

Businesses are, for the first time in a long time, feeling the need to compete with one another for the talented work pools that are available to them. Here are four things you can do to make the most of your summer hiring efforts.

1)   Begin recruiting early. Big businesses complete most of their summer hiring as early as April. The earlier you get started and have your summer workers lined up, the better. By being better prepared to receive them, the better you will be able to prepare your new recruits for the work that lies ahead. More importantly, because you’ve gotten involved in the hiring process before all the top talent has been snagged, you can feel confident that you really are hiring the cream of the crop

2)   Take the roads less traveled. Many summer hires are college students – either recent grads or those looking for work during the summer between their junior and senior years. Most companies hit the larger schools and universities hard and heavy. In doing this, they miss out on plenty of exceptionally talented, bright, and motivated students who would make outstanding summer hires. Try the smaller colleges and universities that other businesses are overlooking in order to broaden your possibilities.

3)   Think outside the box. It’s time to get creative with your recruiting efforts. Don’t offer the same things every other company is offering to attract summer hires. Give them something new and different – something that is sure to be attractive to them. Consider incentives such as weekly pizza lunches or ice cream socials in the afternoon. Offer four-day workweeks. Little things that don’t cost a great deal of money – well, pizza lunches may add up with young appetites – can net huge returns when it comes to attracting talented summer hires for your business.

4)   Simplify the hiring process. Summer hires aren’t looking for death by a thousand paper cuts just to get through the application process. Make it easy, make it accessible, and make it as quick and painless as possible. While you definitely want the top talent, you also don’t want to turn these talented individuals off by a complex hiring process that involves countless forms, resumes, personality assessments, and interviews. Wrap as many of these into one experience as possible and go with the top talent you discover in the process. It will be a much better process for you and the summer help you hire.

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A recent survey conducted by Right Management has shown that employees today place greater value on the opportunity for advancement within an organization than they do on the actual compensation they’re offered. No matter how many other things make it to the top of the perfect employer wishlist, it almost always comes down to an opportunity for growth, development, and career advancement.

That’s good news for businesses that are more inclined to promote from within – especially in our currently sluggish economy. Raises and bonuses have all but flown off the offering tables in recent years. The decrease in starting salaries is nearly unprecedented in modern history. But the one thing some companies still have to offer new hires, despite lower starting salaries, is room to work their way to the top – or somewhere near the top.

In fact, 27 percent of the people surveyed cited ‘opportunity for advancement’ as their highest priority in their next job, while only 17 percent of those interviewed were seeking better compensation. Other priorities that topped compensation included better management teams and more flexible work environments. Less work pressure, surprisingly, came in at a slightly lower priority with 14 percent of survey participants citing that as a priority.

One thing to note is that employee turnover in many companies has been much lower than normal. Even among those who did leave jobs in the past few years, many companies simply left non-critical positions open rather than filling them, in order to reduce costs. This means that advancement has also been slow in recent years, though recent signs of light on the hiring horizon give some degree of hope to employees.

More companies are beginning to become interested in growth and assessing their most talented team members for advancement while bringing in new team members for the lower rank and file positions. Some companies are hiring for the first time in nearly seven years. If your company is one of them, it’s important to understand this shift in employee priorities so that you don’t miss out on high-demand candidates. Don’t be the company they overlook because you’re not focusing on the fact that you promote from within (or that you’re currently unwilling to promote from within). Make sure you’re highlighting the things they most want when it comes to benefits and compensation.

If you want to get the most out of the current list of candidates for employment, you’re going to have to learn to speak the language that matters most to them right now. They all understand that they want the job that comes after this one. Your role now is to convince them that this is the job that will get them there.

Get the kind of dedicated employees your organization needs to grow by contacting the employment professionals at Accent Hiring Group today!

No matter how thorough you are in the “pre-screening” process, you can’t possibly catch every single character flaw of potential employees. There is one however, that you need to go to great lengths to identify during your hiring process: the anti-social employee.

The truth is that few employees work on an island. That is, most companies today require an atmosphere of teamwork. Employees who are inherently loners or have poor people skills will suffer in the collaborative process. More importantly to you, they will cause the performance and morale of those working around them to suffer as well. A poor attitude towards working with others tends to have a domino effect, bringing the entire team to a grinding halt.

But, how do you identify candidates who have poor people skills when they’re bound to be on their best behavior during the interview process? That’s the question that people conducting interviews with have been asking for years. Here are a few things you should keep in mind during the interview process to help you pick the perfect person for your position.

Check References Thoroughly

It’s not enough to just ask if the person was employed there and when the employment took place. Take the time to ask very specific questions about whether or not the candidate was a good team player or if he had a tendency to keep to himself. Ask if there were problems with other coworkers. Ask if the room brightened or got stormy when he walked into it.

Be very careful and very specific with the questions you ask. They will help you determine whether or not this is a good person for the corporate climate you’re trying to create.  An atmosphere of teamwork and cooperation are necessary for your business to succeed in today’s marketplace.

Invest in Personality Testing

These tests may seem like a waste of time and money, but they can save you a good deal of both if you use them properly in your search for a viable employee. Personality tests can let you know a lot about the character of a job candidate. More importantly, they can help you gain insight into whether or not a certain candidate is likely to be a good match for your business environment.

At the end of the day, there is one key indicator that you should trust above all others: your own personal instincts. . They will give you the final answer as to whether a candidate is a good fit for your business.

For the sake of your business and the morale of your employees, it pays to weigh your choices carefully and take your time in order to select the best candidate to fill a position.

In light of the “Great Recession,” many companies are experiencing new challenges that they haven’t often faced in the past. Employees – those who still have jobs – are working harder while receiving fewer rewards and incentives than in the past. While companies are struggling as well, it’s leading to some serious fatigue-factor among employees. Many of them are becoming disengaged, just going through the motions of getting the job done without really putting their hearts into the work. This puts the onus on the employers, who really can’t afford to lose productivity or skilled professionals, to find a way to re-engage these employees.

Here are six quick fixes you might want to consider, if this is happening in your workplace.

1)   Create work perks and offer them to employees who meet certain productivity requirements. Don’t make them outrageous; do make them ambitious. The great thing about this is that it doesn’t have to cost you additional money. It could be something like reserved parking places (when it’s 20 degrees below zero, allowing someone to park closer to the entrance is a huge perk), an extended lunch break for the next week, or even an additional day to dress casual in the upcoming workweek.

2)   Ask for their opinion on products, changes, or even policies within the company and listen to their answers without reproach or recrimination. That’s the only way, after all, that you’re going to get genuine opinions. If you really listen to them however, you might find that more than a few employees have great ideas that can serve your company and other employees well.

3)   Offer employees the opportunity for growth and advancement within the company. There are very few things that can motivate employees better than the opportunity to advance within the organization. People generally don’t like the idea of hopping around from one company to the next. They are creatures of habit and would like to place roots in a community and in a company. Offer them that and you’ll have employees that are consistently looking for ways to raise the bar on their own performance.

4)   Offer a pleasant balance of work and family life to your employees. People work in order to provide for their families. If your employees are chained to the desk 24/7, they will eventually lose sight of why they are working so hard. If you give them the opportunity to get home and spend time with their children, coach their kids’ baseball teams, and tuck them in at night, they will be loyal and much more engaged in their work and your company.

5)   Make it beneficial for them to become engaged and dedicated to their work. Offer over-time pay, bonuses, or even additional vacation or PTO days based on performance rather than tenure. Give people a reason to work harder and smarter. The best way to keep them engaged in the process is to offer them something that matters to them as a reward.

6)   Make it a contest between coworkers with real prizes for the person or “teams” that earn the most points. You can have one firm winner or a first, second, and third place finish. The great thing about this is that it allows workers to have a little bit of fun and really get in the competitive spirit. It’s even better if you can divide them up into teams, to help foster a real spirit of teamwork on the tasks as well.

The bottom line is that companies today must get creative if they want to keep their employees engaged when budgets are tight, profits are low, and morale has been beaten down. These six factors can bring huge changes to your company by boosting morale and getting your employees much more engaged in the work they’re doing.

Once upon a time, personality assessments were often thought of as only relevant for customer service positions. Times are changing, however, and employers everywhere are beginning to understand just how important personality is for all aspects of the “office culture.” The personalities of the people you hire can make your workplace a heaven to work in or, well, a deeper, darker, much less pleasant place.

What characteristics should employers look for in personality assessments to help determine whether or not a candidate is a good match for their work environment?

Ability to Play/Work Well with Others

This is a huge issue in today’s offices. It’s not simply the fear factor of dealing with disgruntled former employees that you’d like to avoid. It’s the fact that someone who doesn’t work well with others is likely to disrupt the flow of the office environment. A productive office is one in which there is little discord and the vast majority of people work well together.

The characteristics you want to find in these personality assessments include: team player, warm, outgoing, sociable and concerned for others. The traits you may want to be leery of include things like independent, reserved, and loner.

Stress Management

There are few businesses today where stress doesn’t come into the picture once in a while. For some companies, every day is a high stress day – think air traffic controllers. Other companies experience stress at certain times of the month or even the year (tax season for accountants, for example).

You need to know how well your candidate generally reacts to stress. This will help you determine how well he is going to perform during periods of high-stress in your business. Personality test indicators you should look for include self-control and stress tolerance.

Coping Skills When Adapting to Change

Change is inevitable. It happens in personal and professional lives. You want employees that can handle the changes that take place in their home and work environments without being completely thrown off their game.

While you don’t want to hire employees who need change and chaos in order to thrive and really perform, it’s a good idea to hire those who are able to adapt to changes quickly and move forward. The personality traits that generally indicate this particular ability include flexibility and initiative.

These are not the only areas where personality tests can prove useful during the hiring process. For instance, janitors need to have the ability to follow a standard routine without being overly ambitious, yet also remain willing to offer assistance to others who need help. The characteristics of any individual can be discovered in a personality assessment. No matter what position you have available, there’s a personality assessment test that can help you identify which candidates are likely to be ideal.

Things are looking brighter for Arizona’s job market, with a dip in the state’s overall unemployment rate to 8.7 percent as of April 2012. Industries such as health care, manufacturing, education, transportation and information technology are leading the way, with more part time and full time career opportunities for job seekers.

That’s not the only thing looking up for Arizona. Businesses are moving into the area, taking advantage of the number of candidates who are looking for great career opportunities as the nation recovers from the recession. Firms like MiTek Industries, a manufacturer of construction components based out of Phoenix, that plans to bring on at least 27 new employees going into this season.

Additionally, large distributors are utilizing the warehouse spaces to bring in new merchandise, to stimulate the increase in consumer spending in the retail and wholesale sectors. According to a recent AZ Central article, “The Arizona Department of Revenue reported recently that shoppers around the state spent $3.7 billion on retail purchases in January, up more than 5 percent from the $3.5 billion spent in January 2011.

Scottsdale Healthcare, a leading job provider in Arizona, is being somewhat cautious about adding new employees too quickly. This is the trend that many businesses are following, as companies take a “watch and wait” approach to their recruiting efforts. Many are turning to temporary employees until they are confident to bring on full timers.

As a whole, Arizona ended 2011 with an increase of 1.1 percent in jobs from the previous year according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent figures. This is good news for families who have been struggling since 2007 when the housing market failed in Arizona. It’s also given hope to many new college grads hoping to land work in the coming year.

The best course of action for anyone looking for a great career opportunity is to get out there with a revamped resume and a good attitude. Signing up with a quality staffing agency, like Accent Hiring Group, is also a positive way to get a head start on earning a good career. There are many temporary assignments that lead to full time permanent work arrangements, so a staffing agency can be the ticket to your success in Arizona careers.

Photo Credit: Matt Banks FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Young employees present a few unique challenges to the employers of today. They are unlike any other employees throughout history in their motivations and even in their work ethic. It isn’t that they lack a work ethic, only that it’s different than those of previous “generations”. Gone is the era of the young work-a-holic over-achiever. The new generation of workers is dedicated but in a self-serving sort of manner. Once you understand what really motivates them, it will be much simpler to avoid high turnover rates in these younger workers who are going to be the future of today’s businesses.

Here are four things you can do to reduce the amount of turn-over your company experiences with these younger employees.

1)   Focus on short-term benefits and rewards rather than retirement plans and 401Ks. The younger generation is looking for performance-based bonuses and incentives rather than long-term rewards for jobs they aren’t sure they’re even going to have thirty years from now. More importantly, the youth of today are constantly and easily distracted from things taking place five-minutes from now. They need and want results and incentives that can hold their attention so offer it to them.

2)   Listen to them. Seek their opinions and contributions. The best thing you can do to make your younger employees happy is to show them that you are listening to their ideas and taking their contributions to heart. The last thing they want is to feel like they’re getting leftovers at the kid’s table. They want bosses and managers who hear what they have to say. With that in mind, it’s also wise to give them one-on-one interaction for things like performance reviews and goal setting. The more interaction you have, the more they will feel like valued and appreciated members of the team rather than disgruntled employees.

3)   Give them immediate rewards for their efforts. While money is a true motivator for people of all ages, it’s not the only incentive that has appeal to younger employees in today’s business community. This new generation of employees doesn’t mind working hard. They play equally hard. Most of them view work as a sort of mixed bag. It’s what they must do in order to have enough money to play; but, it often gets in the way of their play. But this is good news for you because offering perks such as four-day work weeks, extra vacation time, and other time-based incentives they can enjoy right away in order to get their jobs done quickly and efficiently while keeping them happier in the work place.

4)   Avoid the tendency to micromanage. Give them their jobs and then give them the time and space to do unless they’ve given you a reason to do otherwise. They view constant “watching over their shoulders” in a very negative light.

You don’t have to put together high-tech incentive packages filled with massive benefits in order to appeal to young employees and avoid high turn-over rates among them. But, you do need to understand what really makes them tick.

People like perks. It’s a proven fact. They’ll spend countless thousands of dollars in interest on a credit card to get a $200 perk or reward. With the same line of thought in mind, employees will take jobs that offer less money up front if the right perks are dangled in front of them as an incentive. The really great news for employers is that these perks do not necessarily need to be expensive perks for you to offer.

Here are five inexpensive job perks your employees are sure to love.

1. Flexible work hours. Believe it or not, everyone isn’t at his or her best at 8:00 am every day. Some people would love the opportunity to begin their work days at 10:00 in the morning and leave two hours later in the evening instead. Others might like the ability to go in an hour or two early in exchange for leaving an hour or two earlier in the evening. You’re getting the same number of hours from them but they are much happier because they get to choose the hours that fit their schedules and lifestyles best.
2. Consider a four-day workweek. This is one perk employees can really sink their teeth into. Most of the time you’ll see that employees are excited about the possibility of working two extra hours four days out of the week in order to get an entire other day off work for the week. You still get 40-hours worth of work from your staff but you benefit from improved morale and it didn’t cost you one extra penny to get it.
3. Recreation equipment for break rooms. Everyone needs to let off a little steam once in a while. It’s amazing how much a basketball goal in the parking lot or an X-box or pool table in the break room can do to help employees let off steam and get back to work. You don’t have to invest in a lot of expensive equipment in order to enjoy an excellent ROI.
4. Concierge services. Believe it or not there are some companies that hire out concierge services to employers. It’s a fast growing industry because it has proven to be so popular. It involves having people available to “run errands” for employees so they can focus on work and not on buying birthday or holiday gifts, or countless other odds and ends things they need to do. It can even be for simple tasks like finding a reputable plumber, electrician, or mechanic. There are all kinds of reasons employees can really appreciate services like this.
5. Casual workdays. While there are some professions where “image” is everything, there are a lot of employers where going to a “casual workplace” could save employees time and money – not to mention make them more comfortable and productive during the workday. While there will always be standards to exactly how casual you’re willing to go, the modern workplace doesn’t have to be buttoned up all the time in order to be productive. This is another perk that employees will appreciate that will cost you little, if anything at all, in order to initiate.

If you want to bring in bigger and better talent without an impressive arrays of money, bells, or whistles; little perks like these can make a huge difference in your “buying” power.

It’s a sad truth that there used to be a stigma against hiring the unemployed. It was thought that the unemployed job candidate had more weaknesses or deficiencies than someone that was gainfully employed. In other words, somehow being unemployed equated to being less valued in the eyes of recruiters.

But in today’s economy, that argument simply doesn’t hold water. With the recession, massive company layoffs, and the highest unemployment rate seen in recent years, unemployment — and quite often lengthy unemployment — is common in the current society.

Unfortunately, some companies are still holding this black mark against the unemployed. The Chicago Tribune[1]  published a story recently where companies are placing qualifiers in their job opening advertisements requiring job applicants to be currently employed. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has received similar reports of said unemployment discriminatory job ads.

While the ethics of this practice may be questioned, technically it’s not currently against employment discrimination laws, since the unemployed aren’t listed as one of the protected class of people. But this could change very soon.

Several proposed legislative measures are looking to do something about this discriminatory practice. Adding barriers to getting the unemployed back to work isn’t going to help the economy. In fact, it’s a hindrance. Government officials see employment discrimination against the unemployed a particularly thorny problem. In most cases, it’s the state of the economy that result in an applicant’s unemployment — not his or her skills or performance on the job.

Why Discrimination Against Unemployed Candidates Hurts Business

Currently, there are an influx of candidates who are unemployed. That’s hard to avoid with some 9 percent of the workforce still without gainful employment in Arizona. These candidates are just as valuable as their employed counterparts, and there are several advantages to consider with unemployed candidates:

• Unemployed candidates are ready, willing and able to go to work immediately.
• Many unemployed workers have gone back to school so they have up-to-date skills.
• There is less risk of employee turnover with unemployed candidates looking for stable work.
• Those without work are primed to learn new tasks and take on more challenges.

Not choosing to consider unemployed candidates can hurt your business. First of all, you’re missing out on a demographic of highly skilled individuals who are ready to accept new assignments right away. This can save you significantly in time and money to search for specialists in some industries where there are shortages. Additionally, you could be violating EEOC guidelines if your hiring practices do not consider all candidates equally.

In Conclusion

If stricter legislation is passed in the future, to protect unemployed individuals from discrimination,  it would be a welcome sigh of relief for job seekers, particularly ones who have suffered from long-term unemployment. Any steps that can be taken to help get the nearly 10 percent of the American workforce back to work, will only strengthen our economy. As part of your hiring strategy, consider how including unemployed candidates in your pool may help your business to become part of the revived nation.

The job market today, in many ways, is a buyer’s market. It’s one of those rare times when there are far more qualified candidates for every available position than there is demand for these quality candidates. Still there are also many people out there who might not be the best choice to make when it comes time to consider people for employment. Here are a few “red flags” you’ll want to be on the lookout for during your hiring process.

Confidence Outstrips Experience

There are rare occasions when this warranted but for the most part over-confidence can translate into real-world problems when it comes to listening and learning. You want the people who work for you to be willing to listen, ask questions, and learn the way things are done in your company. You don’t want them to walk through the door believing they have nothing left to learn.

The Candidate Hasn’t Researched Your Company

In this job market you should expect a candidate that makes it to the interview process to do a little homework and learn a little about your company ahead of time. If he or she doesn’t know anything beyond what the website says then it’s a good idea to take a pass or wait for a candidate that has gone the extra mile to learn a little more.

Lack of Humor

While it’s normal for candidates to be nervous during the interview process you should make a point of finding out what kind of sense of humor the candidate has and if you believe it’s a good match for your company. You don’t have to go for “comedy central” material but some sense of humor is often required just to get along and converse with coworkers.

Excess Negativity about Previous Employer

It says much more about the candidate than the previous employer when a candidate has nothing at all positive to say about his or her last place of employment. Take this to heart because you could be picking up another company’s former headache if you aren’t careful. While there are some companies that mistreat employees, it’s better for them to leave without airing the dirty laundry.

The Interview Process is like Pulling Teeth

Everyone has had one of those conversations in life. You know, the conversations where trying to get feedback from the other party was about as painful as pulling teeth – one by one. One critical role of the interview is to determine the communication skills of the potential employee. That can’t be accomplished if you can’t get the candidate to contribute to the questions being asked.

There are other signs and red flags you will want to be on the lookout for as they pertain to the specific corporate culture you’re trying to generate in your business. These “red flags” are wise to consider before hiring employees that might not be a good fit for your company.