Successful Blog

20 Unique Places to Find Qualified Employees

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By Kayla Matthews

The search for the best talent can be tricky. You need to balance your company’s needs with unique job applications to draw in as many options as possible. Finding resources can be difficult, too. Luckily, the following places will help you conquer it all.

1. Job Boards

Job boards like LinkedIn, Monster, Glassdoor and Indeed are some of the most popular places to find employees. You can start your search with these options and informative job descriptions for each position.

2. Professional Organizations

If your company is a partner of any professional organization or other company, you can reach out and ask to advertise on their platforms.

3. Social Media

You should try to use all social media platforms possible — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube — to create different kinds of content. For example, you can send quick updates about jobs through Twitter, but longer, video content with YouTube. Social media advertising can turn a passive candidate into an active one for any position.

4. Email and Newsletters

If your business uses email and newsletters to connect with customers, clients or the surrounding community, you can send out information about your job search.

5. Employee Referral Program

With an employee referral program, you can ask your employees or coworkers to look for potential talent. If you end up hiring the person they recommend, they then receive a reward from the program.

6. Job Fair

A job fair is a great place to meet new people that are already looking for opportunities. Remember, job fairs can be in-person or virtual — keep your eyes open for both options.

7. Promotions

Sometimes you don’t need to look for new talent because you already have someone for the job. If a current employee doesn’t mind switching their role, they might be able to fulfill the opening.

8. Specific Job Boards

While the bigger job boards are popular for finding employees, they can flood your inbox with spam applications. Niche or industry-specific job boards can help you reach out to talent that’s looking in lesser-known places.

9. Write to Impress

Your job applications and descriptions need to be transparent, accessible and easy to follow. You can hire a writer to help your descriptions stand out and draw in more talent.

10. Networking Events

You’ll likely attend different events for business. Whether it’s a fundraiser or meeting, you can network during these events to find new employees. The people you meet are already in similar industries, so they may have some helpful insight.

11. Company Website

Your company website is crucial to the application process. Many job-seekers go directly to company websites to apply. You’ll need to make sure your website is user-friendly and accessible with pages for open positions and applications.

12. Streamline the Process

Sometimes, job applications can be clunky. If they carry on for too long, people may lose interest. If you shorten the process to get the basic information you need, you can follow up later with the most qualified candidates.

13. Advertisements

You can advertise online on different websites, from corporate websites to job boards. Indeed allows you to sponsor your listings, for instance, if you want to stand out.

14. New Technology

Within the tech industry, there are exports of $1.5 billion every year. Tech is so expansive that it can now help you find new talent through artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and machine learning. These machines can also sort through applications and weed out ones that don’t meet your standards.

15. Colleges and Universities

Colleges and universities are where emerging students are ready to find jobs. You can talk to professors or advertise on their job boards to draw in the fresh generation of talent.

16. Talent Pool

A good candidate sometimes slips through the cracks if you have to hire someone else. However, you can keep their information and call them back when another position opens up. That way, you already have the connection and you know they qualify.

17. Old Fashioned Way

Most things are digital these days, but you can still take notes from the older methods. You can advertise in newspapers and on bulletins in places like supermarkets or cafes.

18. Recruitment Firm

If you’re not having any luck or simply need more help, you can work with a recruitment firm. These firms specialize in finding talent through every platform possible.

19. Loosen Restrictions

To get more applications, you can loosen restrictions. Not every job should require a degree, so you can adjust to fit experience in some instances.

20. Customers and Clients

You can talk with your customers or clients about potential hires. They are part of your network. Ask them for help!

Finding the Best Talent

When you use these resources, you are putting yourself in the right spot to find qualified employees. Once you implement them, you can focus on picking from all the qualified candidates.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

 

Photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash

Are You Properly Managing Your Business?

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Running a business is a full-time job and then some.

That said how are you doing when it comes to properly managing your business?

If things could be better, you want to be sure you act sooner than later.

Failing to take care of your business needs could well come back to haunt you if you are not careful.

So, where do improvements need to be made on your end of things?

Don’t Let Bad Management Ruin All You Have Worked for

In looking to make sure your business is getting the proper management, focus in on the following:

  1. Employees – Unless you are the company’s only employee, you have people working under you. As a result, make sure you have taken the time to hire the right individuals. If you did not, they could be hampering your company’s ability to succeed. Yes, it takes time when it comes to interviewing people for jobs. That said take whatever time is needed to get the right people in the right positions. Failure to do this can set you and your company back if not careful.
  2. Resources – As important as your workers are, don’t sleep on the resources needed to run your company. This means everything from tools your employees need in the office to when they are out on the road. As an example, do you have the right software for your team in-house? This can mean everything from sales software to analytics and much more. If you have not done so up to now, take the time to go online. Once there, you want to do reviews of various project management software. Such reviews will move you a step closer to finding the right providers for such needs. In today’s tech world, many consumers expect brands to be up to speed on technology. If you do not have the right resources for employees to work with, you could lose business.
  3. Promotions – How good of a job are you doing when it comes to promoting your business on a consistent basis? If you are not doing a very good job, this could hinder you in your ability to stay relevant in your industry. Do all you can to promote your brand in every conceivable way you can think of. For example, are you good at using social media to push your brand message? If the answer is no, this can be detrimental to your success. Take the time to make sure your message is getting out there via social networking. You also want to be sure you are active in your local community. Doing so gives you a chance to build up a good relationship with those in your community. The goal at the end of the day is to promote your brand and reap the rewards of more business in return.

Take the time to see where you could better your company’s management.

Chances are good you will find ways that you may have missed or not spent enough time on before.

About the Author: Dave Thomas covers business topics on the web.

 

How to Conduct a Productive Employee Evaluation (And Why You Should)

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By Kayla Matthews

Employee evaluations can be one of the best ways to get reliable data on your team’s strengths and weaknesses. They also build regular communication between management and staff. However, these meetings are often stressful and unproductive — without the right methods, it can be hard to conduct an evaluation that everyone benefits from.

Luckily, there are techniques you can use to get the most out of sit-downs between management and staff.

Here’s how you can conduct a productive employee evaluation — and why you should.

 

The Benefits of Employee Evaluations

Traditionally, employee evaluations occurred on an annual basis. Today, however, more than one-third of U.S. companies perform frequent check-ins between managers and employees.

One of the most significant benefits of evaluations is how they build communication between managers and employees — especially in organizations where the two may not have regular opportunities for extended conversations. These meetings allow managers to remind employees of workplace expectations and clarify any misconceptions they may have held about their work.

Evaluations are also a chance for employees to show off and demonstrate to management some of their biggest accomplishments over the past few months — or year, depending on how often an organization is hosting evaluations.

 

How to Hold Employee Evaluations the Right Way

 

When it comes to evaluations, you’re not likely to find any one-size-fits-all solutions — instead, you’ll need to conduct meetings using the methods that work best for your organization. Discovering these techniques may take some research and experimentation that will let you see which provides the best results.

Nevertheless, there are some basic evaluation techniques and planning methods that can work for just about any business.

To start, be prepared. In most traditional employee assessments, managers will begin by drafting a written evaluation for each employee they oversee, being sure to include successes and failures — what the employee is doing well and where they could strive for improvement. Be sure that the written evaluation stays specific, actionable, and relevant to the employee’s work.

The employee will look over the document, and then, when it’s time to sit down, they’ll have a chance to go over the comments with their manager.

Some organizations will also ask the employee to write a self-evaluation they can compare with their manager’s during their meeting.

These techniques are generally effective at structuring the meeting and making sure that everyone involved gets the most out of the time they spend sitting down.

Not all traditional evaluation techniques are useful, however. For example, uniform or standardized grading methods — like a five-point scale that tries to quantify every employee’s performance by the same metrics — are good at providing easy-to-follow data for higher-ups. However, these methods are not so great at helping managers understand employee performance.

During an evaluation, employees should be encouraged to bring up both the praise and criticism that they’ve received from people who aren’t in the room — staff from other departments, clients, team members or anyone who doesn’t regularly speak to the manager holding the evaluation. These notes can sometimes provide a helpful counterbalance to the comments the manager brings up.

This method can help make meetings less one-sided — a common criticism of employee evaluations.

Likewise, managers should pass on relevant comments and compliments that employees might not have received. This way, the evaluation can be used to remind employees of how their work fits into the goals of the entire business, while also emphasizing what stands out about their work.

Managers should be careful about how criticism is framed — worded poorly, even well-meaning criticism delivered at top performers can crush confidence, damage productivity and encourage employees to quit, according to research. Keep feedback constructive — and positive, if possible.

 

Building Communication With Employee Evaluations

 Employee evaluations can be a great way to relay feedback to team members, build stronger communication between management and staff and provide goals for employees to strive toward.

However, when handled poorly, evaluations can do the opposite — causing communication to break down and making employees less confident in their abilities.

For this reason, it’s essential to design your evaluations to be as effective as possible. Ensuring that each meeting is a two-way conversation that frames criticism constructively can help keep assessments productive and useful for both parties.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured image: Photo by AllGo – An App For Plus Size People on Unsplash

5 Types of Resume Formats and When to Use Them

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By Kayla Matthews

 

The resume is a fairly straightforward document, but multiple resume formats exist for appealing to employers. Hiring managers don’t spend a lot of time poring over paperwork, so job seekers need to craft resumes that make them stand out. To do this, they must consider the job position and the standards of that field.

Combining all these elements in the creation of a satisfactory resume is complex. However, job seekers are more likely to succeed at it when they familiarize themselves with different types of resume formats.

1. Functional

Functional resumes focus on skills and accomplishments over employment history. A list of relevant skills will start near the top of the resume and continue for the rest of the page.

Some people who create functional resumes choose not to include work history at all. If they do, they list it near the end of the resume, and they only give information on job titles and former employers’ names.

The functional format lends itself well to those with limited work experience, such as recent college graduates. This type of resume also serves individuals with significant gaps in their career or those looking to change careers.

2. Chronological

Employers commonly expect to see chronological resumes crossing their desks. Chronological resumes set the standard for resume formats, and they’re arguably the easiest to create. They list current job experience first, and all other positions follow from most recent to oldest. How far back one can go depends on the individual, but a good rule of thumb is to avoid exceeding 10 years. If the applicant has more than a decade of experience, they can choose to list only the number of years the employer requires.

This format suits job seekers with ample experience in their respective fields and little to no employment gaps. It displays how long the individual worked, what cities they worked in and what job positions they held.

3. Combination

A combination resume does what its name implies — it combines features of the chronological and functional resume. On a resume like this, professionals list their employment history while also highlighting skills they acquired at each job. This format prevails at displaying people’s capabilities within the context of the tasks they performed, which helps employers envision how the candidate can benefit the company.

However, the abundance of information can get lengthy, so applicants must remain aware of this and streamline their resume. This format matches with senior-level individuals who possess substantial employment opportunities, skills and accomplishments.

People creating SES resumes for government or military jobs can benefit from analyzing the combination technique. SES applications resemble combination resumes in their critical eye for detail and a clear focus on relevant skill sets. One must know how to incorporate detailed ECQs to begin developing a proper SES, and they must understand how to sell their qualifications to succeed.

4. Targeted

Job seekers often create targeted resumes for openings where they meet many of the qualifying marks. Every item on a targeted resume gears itself toward the specific job the individual is applying for. Individuals tailor their skills, work history and education to fit the position. For example, if someone applies to a book publishing company for the position of a developmental editor, they might list editing classes they took in their education section. For skills, they’d include concept organization and manuscript evaluation.

The targeted format is the more time-consuming of the four, but it pays off when the employer sees how well the applicant fills the spot. An applicant who finds a position they are well-suited for should use this format when applying.

Those who opt for targeted resumes must keep in mind that honesty is key. Attempting to lie about or embellish certain qualifications will be noticeable if the employer calls for an interview and asks for details.

5. Curriculum Vitae

Individuals in the educational field commonly use CVs when applying to jobs. CVs emphasize academic achievements such as conferences, presentations, journal publications and papers. While applicants outside the educational field desire to condense their resumes, those within it tend to make their CVs several pages long to capture their successes. Employers in fields of scientific and medical research expect to encounter many lengthy CVs. Those looking for jobs in academia or research would do well to begin compiling a list of relevant items for a CV.

Diligence Is Key

Job applicants should select the type of resume format that hits their intentions and sets them apart from others. The process becomes more straightforward when they know what they’re looking for and what the employer is expecting.

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash

4 Ways To Prevent Employee Turnover In Your Startup

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By Kayla Matthews

Keeping good talent is tough for any business, but when you’re an emerging startup, it can be a make-or-break matter. Losing the person who drives innovation or puts the whole team at ease can cripple a promising operation in its youth, and as a leader it’s your job to stop that.

So what can be done?

Sometimes you have to think outside the box when you can’t throw money at people. It won’t surprise you to hear that the world of startups relies heavily on flexibility and the attraction of new ideas to retain talented people who value their stake in the company. Here’s how you can realize these ideas at your own startup.

1. Be Choosy About Management

When you’re a startup, every member of your team is critical, but for you to do the job of leading the company you can’t always spend your time overseeing each individual. Stressors are high in this environment, and while many startups enjoy a high-energy culture that lends itself to breakthroughs and rapid growth, that takes a toll on employees. This is why you need excellent management.

Managers who know how to motivate and encourage their direct reports are essential for your company to succeed. Think of them as an extension of your own role and empower them as your direct reports. A strong management team will go to any length to shape procedures and policies in a way that lends itself to productivity by listening to their employees, understanding what works and acting when change is needed.

2. Encourage Personal Growth

Speaking of listening to employees, a startup is often attractive because of the opportunity for growth that a startup presents. Workers have to push themselves and wear multiple hats. In doing so, they pick up valuable resume builders. If you’re not careful, they’ll take those new skills and walk right out the door.

But many people don’t. Startups that succeed in keeping good people understand why their people are learning these new skills, how they plan to use them in their career and what the next challenge is after an employee has advanced.

If your management team can stay one step ahead and continue to provide learning opportunities other places can’t, employees will remain engaged. Run out of new skills in one area? Throw a rockstar employee into something a little foreign to them and watch them thrive on new challenges.

3. Be Social

The company that hangs together, stays together. And in a startup environment you might just be hanging together working twelve hours into the day because the team is small and things need to get done. We’re not saying that should be an all-the-time thing, but the flexibility of a startup environment should allow you to make the workplace fun and less rigid.

That means you need to spend some time putting work down, too. Get the team out on the town, or even have a gathering at someone’s home if it’s small enough. The opportunity to create strong bonds that a startup presents is unique to this size and type of business. Don’t waste that opportunity. Build strong relationships with your team.

4. Incentivize with Vesting

Vested options are perhaps the most drastic, but also very effective means of ensuring that people stick around. Many startups offer stock options as part of their compensation package. If the options mature too quickly, people are encouraged to take their money and run. So create a plan wherein their shares increase across multiple years and employees can only keep them if they stay with the company.

Companies in the San Francisco area where tech startups abound have been said to use a four-year strategy that vests after the fourth year and then restarts at a higher quantity of stock.

However you choose to do it, the only way you can go wrong is by not realizing the importance of your employees in a startup. Hiring the wrong people can completely sink your operation, so you’ve got to choose wisely. The best selected employees can’t help you if they all leave, so give them every reason to stay with cool workplace perks, a friendly culture that embraces productivity and some exciting alternative compensation!

 

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured Photo by Shridhar Gupta on Unsplash

4 Ways to Market Your Business’ Job Opening

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By Kayla Matthews

It’s hiring season and there are so many qualified candidates out there ready to work for your company. Filling a job opening can take months and you want to make sure you hired the right candidate who is committed to your business’s future. Today’s economy is raising candidate expectations and recruiting challenges.

According to a recent study, 74% of recruiters believe that hiring will become more competitive in the next 12 months. Therefore, it is essential to market your company’s job openings to the right audience to capture the attention of a future employee. To hire top talent, HR teams need to stay on top of modern recruitment strategies.

If your business is serious about adding and attracting the right candidate, we have suggested four ways to market your job listings.

1. Stand Out From The Crowd

Let’s start with the most important way to market your company’s job listings. You need to stand out from the other tens of thousands of job openings. Drop the boring description that sounds like any other job listing. Create a tone that is unique and resonates with the reader. This way they can feel like you are speaking directly to them.

When writing your job post, include future plans for the position so candidates are aware of the potential growth they have with your company. This will target motivated job seekers who are looking to stay with the same company for an extended time.

Don’t forget to sell yourself. If there is something unique or awesome about your company, include it on the job description page so applicants are aware of your company’s culture. As you are writing the job advertisement think, “Why should they want to work for us?” Job seekers will also want to know what sort of benefits the job will have or potential salaries.

Be extremely clear on what your expectations are. Is it a part-time or full-time position? Employee or freelance? According to Indeed, jobs with descriptions between 700 and 2,000 words get on average 30 percent more applications. Make your posting easy on the eye with bullet points, listing responsibilities and qualifications.

2. Target The Right Audience

One of the most important aspects of the hiring process is hiring the right person for the job who also fits the culture of the company. In order to find the right fit, be sure that your job description expresses your company’s brand to attract the perfect candidate.

When job seekers are job hunting, it is important for them to know who the organization is. Give a brief backstory of your company and explain what your business does. If there is more information about your open position, then the right candidate will want to apply because they know what the company stands for and what they are expected to do.

Extend your outreach for a prospective employer. When you only post on job boards, you are only attracting those searching for immediate placement, which means you are getting people who:

  • Usually do not have a job
  • Usually do not like their job
  • Are actively seeking employment
  • See a lot of other jobs just like yours available

It may seem obvious, but in order to reach your target audience, you must know who they are and what their needs are. Talking to your target audience is a great way to connect your job position with a potential candidate. The tone of your job advertisement should connect with them on a personal level and use a conversational, rather than a lecturing tone.

Your audience will want to feel that you understand their needs and are going to provide them opportunities to make their lives better. People tend to work harder for companies that will take care of them in return.

Take your job campaigning a step further and expand your audience to anyone- even those currently employed. The next section will cover how to reach a larger audience.

3. Use Current Jobs Sites

There are so many platforms to submit a job posting, but it is important to stay on top of current job search trends. People no longer have the mentality to just “get any job.” They look for reviews, people they know who enjoy their job, and employee satisfaction.

  • LinkedIn – LinkedIn allows you to look specifically at candidates profiles. It is a digital resume platform, where either they can respond to your job listing, or a company can even reach out to a prospective candidate. This is also a great way for employers to look for credibility in a candidate as they can see how many people have “endorsed” the candidate to prove that they do have that knowledge and skills that they claim to possess. Many companies use LinkedIn to try to steal talent, and you should consider being a part of that.
  • Glassdoor – Glassdoor is becoming extremely popular among millennials because they have the opportunity to read reviews from current and past employees. Job seekers also have better insight on the salary range to expect as this is displayed on Glassdoor. Another reason why so many candidates utilize Glassdoor is that they can get tips and insights on the interview process so they are better prepared.
  • Colleges & Universities – Using college and university job search boards is another great way to get a truly motivated employee. Usually, as students start to finish off their degree they start searching for the right job through their alumni job portal or job board. Some colleges even let employees post their job opportunities and internships for free.

4. Get Your Employees Involved

One of the best ways to make your brand more appealing is through your employees. People will be more attracted to your company if the employees can vouch for it. Many people have watched their parents come home unhappy from a job they hated, so candidates are now looking for a job that won’t be dreadful. When current employers can express their job satisfaction through social media, LinkedIn, Glassdoor or other public platforms then more people will want to work for you.

This shows transparency between the employer and the employees. Reviews are beneficial not just for potential job seekers, but for the employer as they have the opportunity to respond to feedback and get additional insights on where things are going within your company. When an employer responds on social platforms it shows that they actually care about their team, which is an attractive quality for job seekers.

Another great way to recruit top talent is to implement an employee referral program. If you currently have great talent on your team it is likely that they are connected to others with great talents- such as friends, previous coworkers or university alumni.

Since your current employees are satisfied with their jobs, they are walking advertisements and will attract more qualified candidates to work with them. Referral hires tend to have greater job satisfaction and stay longer at companies.

Don’t Forget The Essentials

Being a trustworthy company is an attractive quality for serious job seekers. So invest in your employees’ happiness to attract top quality talent. After all the time and effort you have put into constructing a job post that stands out from the crowd, attracts your targeted audience, and is up to date in job promotion trends, don’t forget the essentials. Be sure to clearly state your location, contact information, and what the applicant should submit to the job post- resumes, cover letters, referrals.

Look for creative ways to express why your company is a great place to work. Take the time to explain why your company is unique when writing the job listing. If you follow these tools you will attract better talent and also receive more job acceptances from your top-choice candidates.

About the Author: Kayla Matthews writes about communication and workplace productivity on her blog, Productivity Theory. Her work has also appeared on Talent Culture, MakeUseOf, The Muse and Fast Company.

Featured Image: Tim Mossholder on Unsplash