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Should I Hire From Temp Agencies?

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When it comes time for your company to hire a new employee, it’s fair to assume you’re looking for nothing short of the perfect match for the job, right?

Well, if you’re on the fence about going through a temp agency, there are some pros and cons to take into consideration that might influence which side of the fence you land. Most employment agencies are great about vetting and providing the perfect candidate, while others miss the mark.

Here are just a few benefits as well as drawbacks when it comes to your company hiring through a temp agency:

The Pros

Considering a temp agency’s purpose is to match employees with employers, it’s sometimes better for companies to hire through an agency rather than advertise positions to the general public and for good reason:

* Avoid Hiring Mistakes – When you hire through a temp agency, your company can rest assured the candidate is not only pre-screened, but tested for the job at hand. This is a great way to avoid poor hiring decisions that ultimately result in lost productivity and wages.

* Eliminate Unemployment Claims – Temporary employees are hired with the full knowledge that their time at your company is short-term. Because of this, your company avoids any unemployment claims that may arise. If you decide to let go of a temporary employee, it’s the temp agency’s responsibility thereafter.

* Reduce Recruiting Efforts – When hiring through a temp agency, the vetting process is done for you. So, instead of wasting time, money, and energy on the legwork that goes along with the recruiting process, your company can cut to the chase with temp employees that are apt for the job.

* Decreased Benefit Costs – Employee benefits cost companies a ton, but with temp employees, your company isn’t required or expected to pay benefits as long as that employee is on a part-time schedule. Likewise, if it’s a full-time position your company needs to fill, consider hiring two temp employees to cover the same job.

The Cons

Before making the decision, there are a couple drawbacks your company needs to consider before going the temp agency route:

* Employee Buyouts – Although finding the perfect fit through a temp agency is a huge benefit, the contract buyout that goes along with hiring that employee full time is a major drawback. And, most temp agencies require a significant buyout depending on the length of the remaining contract.

* Agency Screening – Most temp agencies take the screening process very seriously in order to provide companies with the best possible match. But, unqualified employees sometimes slip through the cracks, especially in the case of larger temp agencies.

* Lack of Strong Relationships – Employers like long-term employees because they are able to form strong relationships with the company as well as other employees. Temporary employees on the other hand don’t have the chance to develop any real relationships. This results in a loss of team spirit and, in some cases, a lack of commitment from the temp employee.

As you can see, weighing the good with the bad is an important step when deciding whether or not to hire through a temp agency.

Photo credit: writeforhr.com

About the Author: Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of content. He writes on a variety of topics including personal health, roofing repair, and small business.

How Do I Hire the Right People?

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Judging a book by its cover probably is not the best way to find the right candidate for your company. These days you have to at least open the book and read the first chapter.

Luckily, there are ways to ensure your company hires the right people without sitting them down in an interrogation room first.

The following tips will help you get the most out of your first encounter with potential employees and ensure you pick the perfect candidate.

Screen Resumes

In an attempt to streamline the interview process, resume screening is a great way to cut out candidates that don’t meet the requirements. Sure, resumes are naturally screened as you read them, but they should be accompanied by a detailed checklist.

The job specific checklist can work as a 1 to 10 scale broken down into categories ranging from candidate qualifications, experiences, and whether or not they should move on to the interview process.

By doing this, you, the employer has a tailored checklist that’s easily compared to other checklists based off the competition’s resumes. Additionally, it’s wise to have dedicated screeners during recruiting periods to act as candidate experts.

Interview for Attitude

Before you hire any employee, it’s important to know whether their knowledge and skill level is up to par. But, another essential facet to any potential candidate is their inner office attitude. That’s where the interview comes into play.

Don’t spend too much time grilling the candidate on information already stated in the resume. Instead, try to gauge their personality. Ask questions concerning work habits, how they function under stress, and their opinion on working long hours.

This is also where your ability to read body language plays a huge role. If the candidate becomes uneasy or makes a seemingly harmless joke at the mention of possibly working nights and weekends, it’s probably because they’ll ultimately have a problem with it.

Quiz References

If and when a candidate reaches the reference checking stage, it’s the perfect time to dig deep into the potential employee’s work past. And, if the reference is strictly professional, it’s also a great chance to gather unbiased opinions about the employee in question.

Once questions concerning the candidate’s abilities are out of the way, transition directly into their people skills. Questions like whether or not the candidate works well with others, their day-to-day attitudes, and their willingness to go above and beyond what’s asked of them are all fair game.

Test for Success

After the candidate checks out on paper and face-to-face, it’s wise to request they take an abilities test.

Whether it’s to get a sense of the candidate’s general knowledge or gauge skills particular to the job, if the potential employee is all they say they are, they should have not problem taking the test and more importantly, receiving an adequate score.

So, when it comes time to fill your next open position, take some of the above tips into consideration and find the best employee for the job.

As an employer, what have your hiring experiences been like to date?

Photo credit: ABC15.com

About the Author: Adam Groff is a freelance writer and creator of content. He writes on a variety of topics including business, invoice software, and personal health.

Is Your Business Hiring the Wrong Folks?

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It is 2013 and you have some three-fourths of the year in front of you to take your small business to new heights.

So, what are a few things that concern you over the remaining nine months? If hiring the right talent to helped carry your business to more success is one of those concerns, what do you plan on doing about it?

As a small business owner, you obviously have a full plate to handle on a regular basis. Decisions involving products, services, budgets, promoting your company, and more likely consume you on a daily basis. That being said, where does hiring the right employees rank on such a list?

For some business owners, it just takes one wrong hire to throw off the office chemistry, potentially throwing the company into upheaval as you try and right the ship.

If you have made a bad hire or two in the past, consider the following to negate such choices in the future:

* Chemistry – Just like if you were buying a bus and placing your employees on it, finding the right seats for each of your workers is critical. Let’s face it, some personalities just don’t mesh well, leading to potential conflicts around the office. Although some individuals can fool you or your HR department during the hiring process, never underestimate the importance of personality when looking to hire. An individual can have the most sparkling resume going, but their personality should matter just as much if not more when considering bringing them on board;

* Qualifications – Have you ever decided to hire someone with less qualifications because you could flat out pay them less money? Yes, it does happen more often than you may think, especially in a day and age when companies are trying to save money wherever possible. Some businesses will hire an individual that is less qualified than another applicant, albeit to save money. Keep in mind that making such a move can surely backfire on you, especially if you have to bring someone new in a short time later and go through the training process once again. Qualifications should always be right at or near the top of the list, otherwise you simply get what you pay for;

* Attitude – Just as chemistry and qualifications prove important, an applicant’s attitude ranks right up there too. The most qualified person could be a proven winner for your company, yet their attitude is less than stellar. Yes, attitudes can change over time, but are you willing to risk hiring such a person? If during the interviewing process you sense an individual’s heart just isn’t into your company, great qualifications and all, look elsewhere;

* Mileage – Finally, locating that individual who will go that extra mile for you and your business is golden. Extra mileage means the man or woman who will stay past their regular hours or come in early, speak up regularly at company meetings to offer constructive ideas to grow the company, and not afraid to offer their talents and experience to others in the office. Some employees do just enough that is required of them, while others will go above and beyond. When you find those latter individuals, your business stands to gain.

As the calendar prepares to turn to April soon, are you making it your business to find the right employees in 2013?

Photo credit: employeescreeningblog.com

About the Author: With 23 years’ writing experience, Dave Thomas covers a variety of small business topics, including helping those who might say i need online reputation protection.

Do You Know How to Hire Talent?

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While many small businesses have found themselves having to freeze new-hires or even let people go given the turbulent economy, others have been fortunate enough to bring on new employees.

Stop, however, and look at your hiring processes. Are they really where they need to be?

For too many companies, there are cracks in the armor when it comes to hiring the right employees.

As a small business owner, do you follow a formal process when it comes to bringing on new talent or have you been winging it for some time now?

In the event it is the latter, here are some tips to help smooth out the process:

  • What is the proposed duration of this employee? – Businesses need to decide if they will be seeking a long-term employee or just need a temporary fix. If hiring for the long-term, factor in things like higher salaries and benefits. If you just need workers for a few weeks or months, working through a temp agency is oftentimes the best solution. Temp agencies allow you to avoid the interview and hiring process, but keep in mind that that can sometimes be a bad thing;
  • How many interviews should I do with the same individual? – For many companies, the interview process is one and done, while others who like a candidate will bring them in for two or more interviews. Determine how important the position being advertised for is and go from there. That is not to say that you should not care about the quality work of an administrative assistant as opposed to a CEO, but obviously the CEO is going to be coming in with more credentials and expectations;
  • How much emphasis should I put towards gaps on a resume? – For some businesses looking to hire, seeing non-working gaps on someone’s resume signal red flags. While some of these breaks between jobs can be easily explained away, do not hesitate to ask candidates why they have a year or more between jobs. Whether it was a layoff, a break to go back to school, taking care of a loved one or raising a family, most employers will understand. Still, don’t leave this to fate if you’re wondering why someone has not worked for several years;
  • Can you spot a red flag? – Oftentimes an interview will come and go so quickly that you or your HR person or whoever was conducting the process misses something. Be sure to check out if the candidate appears confident, has good communication skills and seems energetic about the position. Body language can go a long way in determining if you may be hiring the right or wrong individual;
  • Quiz the individual about your company – While a candidate is not likely to know every intricate detail about your small business, they should know some of the basics by having done some research. Do you really want someone potentially working for your company that doesn’t know anything about you other than your company name and address? Job candidates should take the time prior to the interview to research the company’s Web site and see how they can best assist you in the proposed position;
  • Be prepared just like the candidate hopefully is – There is nothing more embarrassing for the company and the employee conducting the job interview than not being prepared. Just as you want the candidate to bring their ‘A’ game; you too need to be ready. Have a list of questions compiled regarding the candidate, how they see themselves helping the company, where they see themselves in a few years etc. Just as an ill-prepared candidate can lose out on a job possibility, you being unprepared for the interview can lead to a well-qualified prospective candidate taking a pass on your job offer.

Hiring the right people for your small business is in a way like finding the right seats on the bus for all the students.

In this case, you are looking to hire the best fit for the open position, something that too many companies are not very talented at.

Dave Thomas, who covers among other items starting a small business and business proposals, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.

4 Steps to a Job When You Graduate

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A Guest Post by
Darren McCloskey

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Fully Prepare

Dissertations have been handed in and the months until graduation are quickly slipping past – but what next? It won’t be long until graduates start out on their intrepid job hunting adventures and companies begin to snap them up into employment. It’s now time to sit back and begin to plan your next steps. Finding a job is a time investment and you’re going to need to be fully prepared. Thankfully, we’ve created an expert guide on graduate job seeking so you know how to move onto the next stage of your life.

The Bottom isn’t so scary

For those of you are who are lucky enough to know what you want to do in the future, the best first step to take is to make note of organisations you would love to work for. Whether it’s because they offer high wages or just seems to have the best cultural fit, make a list of them all and spend some time looking up the various roles they offer. If there aren’t any at your graduate level, look at roles that are lower down – even if this means starting at the bottom. If you can show passion and a great work ethic at lower levels, why would they hire someone else when an opening for your ideal role appears?

Head to your chosen employers website and try to glean some information regarding their recruitment process. If they use a particular recruiter, make note of their name or find out the names of the in house recruitment team members. Remember not to dismiss any role that you can apply for – it’s not just a job but a networking opportunity, a valuable asset when only 40% of jobs are openly advertised to job seekers.

Internships aren’t always Unpaid

While unpaid internships seem to be floating around at an increasing rate, there are ways to make them work for you if you don’t live at home or have savings to support yourself. Internships are a valuable way to get work experience and gather a number of industry contacts for later use in your career. If you can’t manage to work unpaid for a month or so, ask if you can work on a part time basis, so you can balance unpaid work with another paid part time job. Even asking for an afternoon every week to do some work experience will be beneficial to you in the long run and allow you to get a grasp of job roles and contacts in the industry.

There’s Plenty out There

There’s a whole industry of recruiters devoted to placing graduates into suitable roles, so don’t fret, there’s definitely a job out there for you. Of course, there may be a higher amount of competition for certain roles, but determination and persistence can get you anywhere. On average it takes around 60 job applications to get an interview or two, but if you’re still struggling to hear anything then perhaps you should consider getting your CV checked over, or downloading a new CV template.

Your university should offer careers advice and set you on the right track. They may even advise you on contacts they have so you can call up for an impromptu chat or networking events that you can attend to widen your horizons.

Always make sure you have thoroughly researched the company that you’re sending an application to. Considering the amount of competition your application might have, it’s best to be right the first time and show you have commitment to learning more. For instance, looking up potential colleagues on LinkedIn or finding their blogs online will be another point you can cover in future interviews and make you memorable.

Companies want to know about YOU

Reports have shown that the quality of applications that employers have received has improved. Graduates have proven to be adept at answering competency based questions but seem to falter when it comes to what motivates them! Beware of tricky questions such as “Where do you see yourself in five years time?” and “Why do you want this role with us?” as questions such as these cannot be blagged. They require preparation and a thought as to what your goals in life are. Once you have an interview set some time to sit down and go through as many possible questions you can think of. Make sure you know what you want and why you want it – if you can’t explain why you want a job, why should they give it to you?

So there you have it, four simple pieces of priceless advice to get you on your way to graduate employment.

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Author’s Bio:
Darren McCloskey is a freelance writer working within the recruitment section with the people of monster to help promote how employment agencies can help find engineering jobs

Thank you, Darren!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Ideas & Infographs: The Effects Your Small Business Can Have By Hiring Just One Person

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Guest Post
by Adria Saracino

It is hard to imagine a small business hiring one person having any lasting effect on unemployment in the UK. After all, the rates are now at a 17-year high. However, new data suggests this is the case; that small businesses can in fact reduce unemployment.

Simply Business. a company that provides insurance for small businesses, conducted some marketing research after new unemployment data was released by the British government. Of the small businesses surveyed, 27% said they plan to hire at least one employee in the next twelve months. And all of the sudden, that “one person” quickly turns into over 300,00 new jobs across the market.

Simply Business created the following UK unemployment infographic to display the effect small business owners have on the economy.

Click this link to see the full-size infographic.

Jason Stockwood, CEO of Simply Business, said:

“The optimistic picture these small businesses paint is heartening in these tough times. When you consider that SMEs account for 99.9 per cent of the total enterprises in the UK and provide over 59 per cent of the jobs in the private sector their continued success and growth is key to our economic recovery.”

With such a large number of new employment, there would be an estimated decrease in over 190,000 people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, resulting in the government saving over £10,000,000 each week.

Are you the owner of a small business? And if so, do you plan on hiring anyone in the next twelve months? If so, you just might end up being part of a large decrease in unemployment rates.

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Adria Saracino is the Head of Outreach at Distilled, a creative Internet marketing agency. When not connecting with interesting people on the web you can find her talking about style at her personal fashion blog. Follow her on twitter @adriasaracino to stay in touch.

Thanks, Adria!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!