4 Reasons to Hire Someone On-the-Spot

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When you have a hiring authority position in a company, you’re often in charge of interviewing potential hires. Though your company may prefer to employ different wait periods between and after interviews, there may be some exceptional candidates you cannot risk losing. Here are four reasons why you should hire someone on the spot:

They Offer Competitive Insight

If the potential recruit you’re interviewing somehow offers competitive insight into your company, competitors, or industry, you should hire them on the spot. Proprietary knowledge is one of the most valuable assets in the business, and if you don’t take advantage of that person’s skills, your competitors might.

They Profess Their Dedication

If a recruit expresses a dedication to your specific company, you could think about hiring them on the spot. In today’s world, there are so many options when it comes to employment that dedication should be taken seriously.

They Provide Unique Value

If a recruit provides unique value that cannot be found anywhere else, you should hire them on the spot. Quality and talent can be hard to come by, especially in the interviewing process, so if you have it, you should definitely take advantage of it.

They Have a Time Limit

Some interviewees might have a time limit put in place for when they are able to be hired. For example, if they are considering a time-sensitive offer with another company. If this is the case, you should hire them on the spot so they know that your company is a serious contender in the hiring process.

If you are in need of recruits to interview, contact Award Staffing. We will chat with you about the types of people you should be talking to and interviewing in order to achieve the professional results your company needs. We will also be able to provide you with these individuals so you can spend your time working instead of searching.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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4 Signs Why You Shouldn’t Hire Someone

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In business, there are times when you’re going to need to hire new employees or add to your temporary staff. If this is done right, it can lead to improved productivity and increased workplace morale. If it isn’t, the opposite effects can ensue.

Here are 4 reasons that indicate a potentially bad hire:

1. Desperation

Any time you’re desperate; you’re going to be in a bad situation. If you are hiring someone simply because you need to fill the spot, you might find yourself compromising on traits, values, or experience that previously would have been a necessity for you. This doesn’t help you or your team improve or accomplish your goals.

2. Social Obligation

If you’re hiring someone because you feel socially obligated, you may end up with someone who doesn’t take the job very seriously. It is a good idea to ask for a resume first if you are receiving pressure to hire a certain person. They you can assess if they have the right experience or skills needed for the job. In case they are not a fit, tell your friend or relative that you need someone who is more in line with your company’s needs.

3. They Look Good on Paper

If someone looks has a great resume but doesn’t interview well, you may want to consider whether or not you should hire them. First of all, the resume could have been fabricated. Second, you should always go with your gut feeling when you meet someone in person. You could risk the safety of both your business and employees if you hire the wrong person after a bad in-person feeling.

4. They Live Close

It’s tempting to hire people who live close because they’re theoretically always ready to jump in for work. However, just because someone lives close does not mean they’re the best fit for your company. If they live close and meet your expectations, consider that a plus, but do not base your entire hiring decision on their proximity alone.

 

With these warning signs you can avoid a bad hire. Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization find the best people for your team? View our services page to get started.

Why You Should Customize Your Interview Questions

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When you’re interviewing potential candidates for a job, you need to see that they’re the right fit for that exact position. Usually, employers will use an interview as a way to gauge whether or not that particular employee is the right fit for the job. If you can, you should refrain from using boilerplate interview questions and here’s why:

You’ll Get Better Responses

It should go without saying that if you customize your interview questions, you’ll get better, more customized responses, which means that it will be easier to make comparisons between eligible candidates.

You’ll Be Able to See How They Respond in That Position

You can customize your interview questions so that your interviewees have to provide answers to real-life problems and solutions they would encounter if they were in that particular position. This is helpful because it allows you to gain a clearer picture of real skills and responses before making the financial commitment to hiring them.

They Will Be Able to Gauge Their Duties

When you customize the questions, the interviewee will be able to gauge their duties based off of what you’re asking them. This will make the interview process more of a double-selection because they will be inherently aware of what you’re asking them to do as part of their job duties. By customizing your interview questions, you truly will be able to find the candidate that is best suited for your company.

If you have written applicable interview questions for that particular position but need help finding candidates, contact Award Staffing. We will be able to help you find the best candidate for you based on your unique needs.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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Why You Should Always Check an Applicant’s References

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When you’re interviewing candidates for a job, you may find that many of them will provide you with references from their last job. While it may be easy to skip over them, you should always check references and here’s why:

You May Uncover Some Important Information

A lot of employees will submit references and think that the employer will never check them. One of the most important reasons why you should check references is so that you don’t leave anything uncovered. If any of your employees had a bad incident or history, that’s something you’ll want and need to know about from a safety and smart hiring standpoint.

You Will Trust Your Employees More

When you can verify that potential employees are exactly who they proclaims they are, you will trust them more. With more trust comes the ability to give your employees increased duties that will ultimately take the burden off of you.

You’ll Learn More About Your Employees

Use this as a way to find out more about your employees that you weren’t able to find out in the interview. You can ask questions about their past employment history, how they performed their specific duties, and whether or not they were a team player. People often find it hard to talk about themselves in a positive manner, so this will be a good way to get the full picture painted.

If you have been checking references and don’t have any solid candidate options, contact Award Staffing. We will be able to recommend candidates for you, with pre-checked references, who would be a good fit for your team.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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How MN Companies are Becoming Millennial-Friendly

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Millennials are increasingly becoming a larger part of the workforce. If you want to stay on top of hiring trends and have a company that’s able to advance, you will need to make your company a hub for millennial innovation and creativity. Here’s how you can make your company millennial-friendly:

Hire on Social Media

Millennials live on social media, so if you want your company to be millennial-friendly, try reaching out to them through that platform. You can use social media as a way to inform millennials about job postings, or you can even take it one step further by actually reaching out to them via a specific social media platform such as Twitter or Facebook.

Have a Flexible Schedule

Millennials love flexibility, because they have such a wide range of interests. If you really want your company to be millennial-friendly, you’re going to need to give them a flexible schedule. Before you shake your head no and refuse, please keep in mind that there are different ways to accommodate flexibility. For example, you could have employees choose different days and hours off so it’s not too many at the same time – as long as Millennials are doing the choosing, they’re happy.

Assign Responsibility Based on Merit, Not Age/Time

If you want your company to be millennial-friendly, you’re going to need to assign responsibility based on merit as opposed to time or age. Millennials value the here and now; if they work hard, they expect to be rewarded for it. Therefore, if you strive to have your company give responsibility or reward based on tasks completed or effort shown, you will be well on your way to being millennial-friendly.

Give Everyone an Equal Voice

One of the biggest ways you can make your company a great place for Millennials to work is by giving everyone an equal voice within the company. While this doesn’t mean that everyone has to make decisions, it does mean that everyone listens to what everyone else has to say in terms of opinions or feedback about how to complete certain things. You’ll find that this will make all of your employees that much more collaborative with each other.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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How Minnesota Businesses Ensure Staff Bonding

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Staff bonding is crucial if you want to build up a strong team and cohesive feeling in the workforce. When you encourage your staff to bond with one another, you’ll find that it translates over into your company’s productivity and overall well-being. Here are some great ways to ensure your staff bonds with each other:

Schedule Regular Meetings

Face-to-face time is the best way to cultivate meaningful relationships. If you schedule regular meetings with your staff, you’re ensuring that they see each other in person on a regular basis. If you can, let the staff gather in the conference room a few minutes prior to the meeting starts so they can have time to catch up and really focus on building those relationships.

Arrange for Non-Work Activities

If you really want your staff to bond with each other, you will need to schedule a few non-work activities. These could be as simple as getting out of the office for a low-key happy hour to something more elaborate like a company-wide off-site retreat. Any effort that’s out of the office and an interruption from everyday work life will have the same effect – it will get staff members out of their comfort zone and trying new things in an effort to bond with those who are going through a similar experience.

Encourage Collaboration with Duties

If you have a task that needs to be done, why wouldn’t you divide it in half and ask two of your employees to conquer it together? This will show them that you are actually serious about having them bond, and it will force them to creatively work together to find a solution to a common problem. This is a good strategy to help facilitate the bonding process between two individuals who wouldn’t normally get along with one another.

Incentivize Friendships

Don’t be that employer who’s bothered by staff members befriending other staff members. Even though they may be tempted to chat with each other during work, realize that a lot of that chatter and banter will indeed be work-related. You can personally incentivize friendships by letting your staff members naturally develop these bonds again and not tearing them apart with new or work schedules.

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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Why You Should NEVER Skip Background Checks

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Background checks can be a tricky subject. Some employers require them, whereas others feel that they can be a breach of trust. When done properly, a background check can serve as a great way to preserve the integrity of your workforce and ensure that the hires you’re making are consistent with the rest of your team and company’s values. Here’s why you shouldn’t skip background checks:

Knowledge is Power

The more you know about the team you’re putting together, the better. While background checks can be a time-consuming process, it’s essential to know who you are hiring exactly and what you should be made aware of in the onboarding process. For example, if a new hire has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, you should know what that was and the circumstances surrounding it, so you can make the best decision for your company as to whether or not that new hire is the right fit.

Skipping Background Checks Can Be Costly

Background checks exist for a reason: to make sure you don’t hire someone who is going to hurt you, your company, your company’s reputation, or your employees. If you don’t do a background check, you could end up hiring someone who has some of those intentions and/or runs your business into the ground. While conducting a background check isn’t cheap, think about the costs associated with hiring a corrupt individual who can do so much more damage on his or her own.

Can Improve the Seriousness of the Applicants

One way you can make background checks efficient for your company is if you tell hires that their hire is contingent on them being able to pass a background check. This improves the seriousness of the applicants for several reasons. First of all, if a person has a big enough concern that s/he wouldn’t pass a background check, s/he likely wouldn’t apply out of fear that s/he would make it to the final interview stage and then not be offered the job.

Second of all, it shows that you take pride in your company and the employees you hire, so they will be much more apt to take the entire interviewing process more seriously and only come to you when they are ready to be a responsible, hard-working employee. Once you see the value in performing background checks, your interview process will run much smoother because your interview process will have a type of pre-qualification process put in place.

If you need help from a staffing agency to make those initial connections with potential employees, contact Award Staffing.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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Hiring Long-Lasting Talent in the Twin Cities

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If it’s your task to hire long-lasting talent, you may feel a bit of internal pressure. Finding great talent to represent your company is hard, and more often than not, jobs are disposable to people as they circle through different phases in their lives. Building a team made up of long-lasting talent has its benefits, however, so here are some tips we have about hiring talent that stays.

Gauge Their Future Plans

One of the easiest ways to figure out whether or not a recruit could be long-lasting talent is to assess their plans and interest level. First, ask about their plans. Are they just looking for a job while they’re in school or do they plan to move across the country in a few months? They’re not the best bet for a long-term hire. However, if they have plans to stay indefinitely in the area because of family commitments or other personal reasons, this could be a good indicator that they could be long-lasting talent.

Gauge Their Interest Level

Another easy way to see whether or not talent would be long-lasting is to gauge their interest level. If someone shows up to an interview with a glazed look in their eyes, sloppy attire, and no resume – it’s safe to assume they’re not necessarily interested in the job. Or, maybe they are, but they would jump ship if the right opportunity came up for them. Contrast that with an individual who came into an interview dressed nicely and prepared with a list of questions about your specific interview. Which employee would you hire for long-term talent? The second one, obviously, because they showed a vested interest in your company.

Send a Consistent Message to Your Recruits

If your job listing is for a “Summer Sales Associate,” but you want to find someone who will work long-term for your company, you’re not sending a consistent message as to who you want to hire. Before you can hire long-lasting talent, you need to make sure the positions for which you are hiring lend themselves to being long-term. If they don’t currently, what steps can you take to make sure you attract long-lasting-minded individuals as opposed to those looking for a short summer gig?

If you are looking for long-term talent for your company but are having a hard time finding them, contact Award Staffing. We will be able to help you figure out which of the potential recruits are in it for the long haul and which of the potential recruits only want a short-term gig.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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Why Your Employees Should Provide You Feedback

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As an employer, you should be asking your employees to give feedback regularly. You can do this in a variety of different ways or during different time periods, but it’s important that they can do so. Here’s why your employees should provide feedback:

You Can See Problem Areas

If you’re running the company and focused on the bigger picture, it can sometimes be hard to drill down to what the actual problem areas of your company are. If your employees provide feedback for you, you will be getting real insight into what the problems your employees are facing on a daily basis. This information and intel is absolutely crucial to you, helping you to run your business effectively.

You Can Reward Employee Honesty

If your employees are providing helpful feedback by being honest, you can reward employee honesty. It would be hard for you to do so in any other forum other than one in which they were providing feedback. If you want to incentivize your employees being honest, you can give them the option to provide feedback anonymously, so they aren’t worried about repercussions. Of course, this would negate employee-specific rewards, but you can always reward departments who give the most effective feedback.

Make Necessary Changes

The biggest reason why your employees should provide feedback is so you can make necessary changes. If you aren’t learning from your employees and adjusting your strategies, you aren’t doing it right. Feedback is meant to be taken in, thought about, and new strategies implemented.

If you are looking for new employees who will be able to give you valuable feedback, contact Award Staffing. We will be able to help you identify and hire these employees.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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How to Reduce Costly Hiring Mistakes in Minnesota

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Make no mistake: making hiring mistakes can be incredibly costly. Not only are you taking on the cost of training for someone who won’t use the Intel afterward, but you risk losing out on valuable company assets and/or secrets. Here’s how you can reduce expensive hiring mistakes:

Hire Temp Staff

Before you invest in long-term staff, try hiring temp staff members who can do the job. The biggest benefit of hiring temp staff is that you aren’t responsible for all the initial onboarding costs you would have with a full-time, long-term employee. It’s your opportunity to “try before you buy.” 

Establish a Probationary Employment Period

If you are committed to hiring long-term employees, you establish a probationary employment period. This employment period could have a reduced amount of financial implications (such as basic training) to protect your company and costs. If the employee isn’t performing to your satisfaction after the probationary employment period is complete, you can let them go knowing you didn’t lose money on the entire situation.

Incentivize Extended Employment

No matter what protective measures you put into place, it’s always going to be the least expensive option to hire someone and have them stay with the company. The way you can incentivize this is to put an extended employment clause or contract into place for your employees. This clause or contract would give your employees a bonus for every year (or six months) they’ve been at the company.

When you need additional employees, contact Award Staffing. We are committed to best-fit matches. We work hard to help you find and hire staff members who stay because they are the right fit for your business.

 

FINDING YOUR TALENT

Want to learn more about how Award Staffing can help your organization with your staffing and employment needs? Start by providing our team with a few pieces of information about yourself, and we will take care of the rest.

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