How to Find Great Employees in the Minnesota Market

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It can be tough to find great employees in general; this is especially amplified when in a skills-gap market. There are a few specific strategies you can use, however, to help you succeed.

Use Social Media-

Social media is a great way to find candidates in a skills-gap market. The networking effect extends your reach to candidates. Make sure you post a dedicated job posting with lots of details about the duties, salary, and location, so you sort out the serious applicants from the non-serious applicants. 

Word-of-Mouth-

Similar to social media, word-of-mouth is a great way to extend your company’s reach.   When using word-of-mouth, however, it’s very important that you talk to the correct people. When needing a new employee, get the word out with your current employees or other respected professionals in your industry.

Hire a Staffing Agency-

The best way to find new employees in a skills-gap market is to hire a staffing agency. Staffing agencies have large databases of reputable recruits who are willing to start work at a moment’s notice. They also maintain a consistent database.

If you’re looking to hire new employees but don’t know where to start, contact Award Staffing. We will be able to help you find the right employees for your unique business needs. We will also be able to help you find employees who are willing to commit to your company long-term as opposed to a short-term opportunity.

 

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 Hire an Effective Manager in The Twin Cities

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Hiring a manager is different than hiring a regular employee in the sense that they will have more responsibility, will need to manage other employees, and will report directly to you. Here’s how to hire an effective manager: 

Look for Someone with a Proven Record-

When hiring or promoting a manager, you need to look for someone who has repeatedly proven themselves. This means seeking out someone who has had multiple opportunities to do the wrong thing but has instead chosen the right path. For example, seek out an employee who repeatedly is on-time, shows great work ethic, and makes moral decisions within the realm of your business.

Look for Someone Who Has Great Colleague Relationships-

A manager will need to be respected by their colleagues and peers, so it’s important that they have great colleague relationships. To assess this, you can ask their colleagues anonymously what they think about that particular employee, or you can simply assess for yourself through the act of observation to see whether or not they have great colleague relationships.

Look for Someone Who Knows How to Assert Themselves-

An effective manager will need to know how to assert himself/herself to fulfill responsibilities. To assess this, watch your employees to see who naturally takes charge in a situation of conflict or concern. The person who rises to the top in terms of leadership and taking charge is the person whom you should most readily consider promoting to being a manager instead of an employee.

If you’re looking to hire an effective manager but don’t know where to start, contact Award Staffing. We can help you find employees who would not only be a great fit for your company but who would also be a great fit to be a manager. We will look out for a specific set of skills to ensure that your new hire can accomplish this successfully.

 

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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The Pros and Cons of Hiring Seasonal Staff in Minnesota

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When you’re about to head into a busy season, and you’re in charge of staffing for your company, it’s time for the big decision: do you overload your current employees with extra responsibilities, or do you hire seasonal staff to help out with the workload? Before you make a decision, there are pros and cons of hiring seasonal staff that you should take into account:

Pros of Hiring Seasonal Staff in Minnesota-

• Increased Productivity One of the biggest positive aspects of hiring seasonal staff is that after the onslaught of training, you will have increased productivity. Therefore, if you have a busy season coming up, you may want to get the training done several weeks ahead of time, so your new employees are ready to work when everything gets busy.

• Employee Vetting One lesser-known benefit of hiring seasonal staff is that you can use it to vet longer-term employees. Hiring short-term staff is the perfect way to test out particular employees, especially if you’re not yet ready to make a full-time commitment.

Potential Cons of Hiring Seasonal Staff in Minnesota-

• Training Costs Every time you onboard a new employee, you’re may incur training costs to make sure they’re up to speed with your company’s rules, regulations, and protocol. Adding seasonal staff to your workforce could potentially reduce productivity at first until all the new employees are trained.

Connecting with a quality staffing agency which supplies well-trained candidates who learn quickly will ensure that the ultimate productivity and performance is worth any temporary loss of action.

• Lack of Familiarity Your seasonal staff will need to take the time to familiarize the new employees with the position and overall job details. You will need to account for this in the training schedule, but once again, a little effort, in the beginning, will reap big results in the end.

Furthermore, it’s an opportunity for current staff members to expand their leadership skills.

If you are interested in hiring seasonal staff, contact Award Staffing. We can help you identify exactly how many staff members you need, for how long, and in what position/role. We will be able to pre-vet candidates for you so that you’re only meeting with the most qualified candidates by the time they reach the interview process.

 

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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What Are Comparable Salaries in Minnesota?

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Deciding how much salary to pay and which employees to pay are two of the toughest questions you have to answer in both hiring and retention. Here are tips on whether or not you should offer your employees a comparable salary to your competitors.

What Is a Comparable Salary?

Most employers want to pay competitive salaries but defining that can be a chore. According to Denise Rand of HR Daily Adviser,

“being competitive means paying, on average, +/- 10 percent from the market-average pay for a job or a group of jobs.”

Using a salary comparison tool can at least get you the ballpark figure, but the real question is about the value you get by trying to keep up with the Jones’s when it comes to salary amounts.

Employee Turnover Costs Money-

Every part of a turnover costs money. When old employees leave, you lose productivity. A job search is expensive and time-consuming. Training a new hire is also expensive and time-consuming. You lose additional productivity while the new employee is learning on the job and from other employees trying to teach them. Paying a competitive salary is your best defense against employee loss and associated costs.

Better Pay Means Better Employees-

According to Scott Shane of Case Western Reserve University,

“while it might seem counterintuitive, paying “efficiency wages” – the term economists use for higher-than-market wages – can boost productivity and enhance profits.” 

Employees who work harder, are more positive with clients and are less likely to quit over salary are a tremendous asset to any business. If you’ve decided that you do want to be more selective in your next hire, contact Award Staffing. We regularly work and interface with high-value individuals who are seeking out a new job or career path. We will be able to present you with several candidates and help you put together the right offer package for the candidate you believe is the best fit.

If you’re looking to hire new staff, consider Award Staffing. We will be able to ascertain your company culture, values, and other parameters to help you find the staff you need. We can both find the best-fit hiring manager and play a role as your HR extension. Contact us today.

 

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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Protecting Your Company When Hiring a New Employee

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When you hire a new employee you don’t just take on a new person, you take on the new risks that come with them. Preparing yourself for these issues before they come up can be the difference between failure and success. Here are some things you should do to protect your company when hiring:

Smaller Businesses That Are Expanding Need To Prepare –

If you have not hired before you have some real work to do to prepare yourself. Make sure you have a Federal Employer Identification Number. Set yourself up for payroll taxes, workman’s comp insurance, Unemployment and disability insurance, and EEOE protections before you interview.

Businesses also have reporting and record keeping obligations. Make sure you have your tax withholding and records system in place, you are ready to verify work eligibility and citizenship or immigration status, and you know how to file reporting on new hires with state agencies.

Get Real About Pre-Employment Screening-

Run background checks: drug screens, criminal background checks, credit checks, employment and education verification. Drug screens don’t just keep out drug users; they keep out all the baggage they bring with them, things like higher accident rates, higher missed time rates, higher medical problem rates, and risks from their associates. You will occasionally hear the news about high-profile hires with fake resumes.Call schools and former employers to be sure of what you are getting.

Also, as Martin E. Davis points out in Entrepreneur, “some of the biggest names in the industry (and in our federal government) have been embezzlers, involved in bankruptcies, accused of sexual misconduct and harassment, felons, and convicted of lesser crimes.”

Always check; always verify.

Know The Law Before You Interview and Make an Offer-

You need to know which questions you can and cannot ask during an interview and make sure every member of your staff who participates in the interview process is aware of these restrictions. Topics like religion, sexual preference, age, disabilities, race, ancestry, pregnancy, marital status, children and prior arrests cannot be raised in interviews.

Find out whether an employee has signed a do not compete or other restrictive contract and how this can be enforced in your state before making an offer.

Jason Tremblay of Inside Counsel advises that “the company should prepare, and the new employee should sign, an agreement representing that he or she is not a party to any agreements or other obligations restricting his or her ability to work with the company.”

If you’re looking to hire new staff, consider Award Staffing. We will be able to ascertain your company culture, values, and other parameters to help you find the staff you need. We can both find the best-fit hiring manager and play a role as your HR extension. Contact us today.

 

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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Qualities of a Great Minnesota HR Leader & Partner

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An HR Leader carries out some of the most critical functions in your company. They are entrusted with a lot of personal information and expected to navigate the company and its employees through difficult choices about benefits. Their ability to source new talent will define your company’s future. Knowing what to look for in an HR Leader is the first step towards hiring someone who can manage your programs and help you manage your next stage of growth.

A Great HR Leader is a Great Negotiator-

When you need new talent, HR has to deliver. Merely finding new talent isn’t enough; HR has to sign them and get them in the door. A great HR Leader can pitch your company and convince new hires to sign the dotted line. Strong negotiation skills are also a key component of successful mediation when managing sensitive conflict resolution issues.

A Great HR Leader is a Great Coach-

Your HR Leader finds the new hires and signs them up, but it doesn’t stop there. They make sure they are integrated into the company so they can hit the ground running. Joel Trammell recommends HR Leaders manage the full onboarding process.

“Quality onboarding includes making the new hire aware of company history and general industry knowledge and having him, or her attend meetings with key executives, in addition to the obvious job-specific training.”

A Great HR Leader is a Great Teacher-

Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman write that “most employees in organizations are unaware of labor laws, hiring rules, benefits and compensation issues.”

HR has to educate your staff and help them navigate the choices in front of them – from health insurance packages to retirement choices and more. Great teaching ability can illuminate the issues and smooth out a lot of potential pitfalls.

A Great HR Leader is a Great Learner-

Change is the only real constant. Labor laws and regulations are constantly updated, health insurance plans get more complex each year, and new approaches to benefits, training, and hiring are always being touted by outside consultants.

If you’re looking to hire new staff, consider Award Staffing. We will be able to ascertain your company culture, values, and other parameters to help you find the staff you need. We can both find the best-fit hiring manager and play a role as your HR extension. Contact us today.

 

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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The Benefits of Employee PTO in Minnesota

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Every company understands that paid time off and personal days aren’t an important essential in compensation packages.  Companies may not understand, however, that giving time off to employees has real benefits to the company as well as the individuals that work there.

Engaged Employees Bring Value-

According to Shawn Cable, “when the brain can think positively, productivity improves by 31%, sales increase by 37%, and creativity and revenues can triple.”

Giving employees time away from the daily grind to refresh themselves and reset their mental outlook increases productivity. It also creates a happier work environment for everyone.

Time Off Lowers Stress-

Stress leads to burnout, and burnout leads to turnover with all its associated costs and added workload. PTO enables employees to cut their stress levels and return to work ready to tackle the next project.

Note: Time off needs to be real time off. When employees take the office with them, they lose the benefits time off brings them. Make sure they understand that when they are on vacation replying to emails and answering phone calls is NOT expected.

Time Off Policies Reflect Your Company Values-

Nathan Christensen says, “one of our company’s values is “care to the core.” We now couch our vacation policy within this value, so our team understands why we have it, how to navigate it, and the role it plays in nurturing our company culture.”

Promoting positive company values helps keep your workforce positive. It also gives them more reasons to show up to work for than a paycheck and builds stronger employee retention.

Award Staffing makes an art of helping our clients see recognize what policies will benefit their company.  Contact us today. We will help you build a productive workforce.

 

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 Choose Your Minnesota Hiring Partner Carefully

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Your hiring partner is a key figure in your company’s success. He/she must be trustworthy, accountable, and in agreement with the company mission and values – all in addition to having the discernment to hire right.

Ensure They Understand Your Company Culture-

If your hiring partner doesn’t understand your company culture, they are not necessarily going to be able to hire an employee who is the right fit. Before you let your hiring manager take over the interview process, make sure they understand exactly the type of culture you’re seeking regarding work hours, workplace friendships, policies on vacation time and outside gigs, etc.

Don’t Rush into It-

Don’t rush into the hiring process by placing someone an inexperienced candidate into the ring. You could end up causing more harm than good by doing this. If you are short on time and need someone to hire your next candidate, consider hiring a staffing agency as they have all the experience necessary.

Inform Them of Your Values-

Whether you choose to hire a staffing agency or an internal hiring manager, make sure you have a conversation with them about the company’s values, ethics, and definition of professionalism. It’ll be much easier for them to tangibly take that into account when seeking a candidate that is a good fit.

If you’re looking to hire new staff, consider Award Staffing. We will be able to ascertain your company culture, values, and other parameters to help you find the staff you need. We can both find the best-fit hiring manager and play a role as your HR extension. Contact us today.

 

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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Mitigating Common Employee Issues in Minnesota

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As an employer, it’s often your job to handle any issues your employees might have, either with each other or with the company. It can be tough to develop the discipline to talk to your employees, but it does need to be done to make sure everyone is productive and moving forward in your company. Here’s how you can mitigate some common employee issues.

Tardiness-

If your employee is regularly late to work, you need to have a conversation with them about it. Remind them the hours that work starts and give them a chance to prove themselves. Start monitoring when they get into work every day, as well as when they leave at night. If their hours and performance are affected by tardiness, put them on a warning and then let them know that you’ll have to let them go if they don’t significantly improve.

Cellphone Use-

First of all, try approaching the employee when they are on their cell phone and see how they respond. If they don’t act afraid, upset, or sneaky when they see their supervisor around them, they clearly think there is nothing wrong with using their cell phone too much at work. Sit them down and be very clear with them about your workplace’s cell phone policy and put them on a warning.

Employee Arguments-

If there is a consistently argumentative atmosphere among your employees, you need to find the root of the issue.  It’s best to bring in all parties involved to come to a resolution. If one employee – or two – are the primary source, help them realize that there is usually a solution in every situation that can be reached that is respectful, professional, and appropriate. Of course, if that fails, you may have to consider dismissal.

If you’re looking for new employees, contact Award Staffing. We can help you find an employee who is perfect for your company culture and who will be a good fit for your fellow employees. It’s our specialty.

 

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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8 Things Learned After Applying for 1000+ Online Jobs

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For 70 percent of candidates, the path to a new job starts on Google with a casual keyword search. A candidate wants to probe the market without committing too much time or effort; in fact, 60 percent of online applications are abandoned because they are too complicated or lengthy.

We know that applying for a job is rough, but a 60 percent abandon rate for online applications overall surprised us – is it really so hard to apply for a job online? We had to know! So, we decided to walk the proverbial mile in the candidate’s shoes by applying to just over 1,000 jobs online through 23 different applicant tracking systems (ATS) – and 50 without an ATS –  to understand what it’s really like for candidates, and what recruiters need to know.

Here’s what we found…

1 . The average application took 9 minutes to complete from the moment we clicked apply to the moment we hit submit. Keep in mind that after a couple hundred we became pretty fast – your average candidate is going to take longer.

2 . A confirmation email is one of the easiest candidate experience wins to execute, so we were surprised that 30 percent of online applications still don’t have this feature. In this day and age, sending an automatic confirmation that your company received an application should be par for the course. A simple “thanks for applying” email in the applicant’s inbox assures the candidate that their information is being considered. That way, they don’t feel like they wasted 9 minutes of their life sending personal data into a black hole.

3 . Only 30 percent of online applications were mobile friendly. It’s a big deal when you consider that, in a separate survey of our own customers, we found that hiring through our mobile app is, on average, two days faster than using a desktop.

There’s no hard and fast rule for what makes an application “mobile friendly”, but you know it when you see it. In general, a mobile-friendly application should be able to import details from LinkedIn, and/or have a great resume parser that doesn’t require extensive editing. In addition, it should automatically format for mobile screens so applicants aren’t trying to zoom in on clunky websites.

4 . Ninety percent of applications required the candidate to create a login before filling out an application. It may not seem like a big deal to ask the candidate to create an account, but if your site doesn’t allow the user to import details from LinkedIn or Facebook it may be a barrier of entry your candidate isn’t willing to hurdle.

5 . Speaking of… only 20 percent of applications enabled the applicant to import information from LinkedIn. We were shocked that more systems don’t take advantage of this ready-to-go profile.

6 . A disappointing 40 percent of applications required us to rewrite our resume and/or CVs after already having uploaded them in document form – either due to bad resume parsing, which required extensive editing, or no parsing at all!

7 . We couldn’t complete 18.3 percent of online applications for varying reasons, including: technical issues or the company required the application to be dropped off in-person.

8 . Recruiters rock! An impressively 80 percent of applications resulted in a recruiter reaching out to us about the job!

This article was sourced from www.smartrecruiters.com