Category: Management Tips

Here’s How to Avoid Age Discrimination in the Interview Process

Age is discrimination happens when a candidate is not hired based on their age or an assumption about their skills based on their age without any proof of actual abilities. This can occur to both older and younger candidates and, in most cases, is unintentional. Are you worried about ensuring you eliminate age discrimination when hiring new candidates?

Here’s How You Can Avoid Age Discrimination During the Interview Process

It Begins with Your Application Process

Be careful that your job description and application process does not exclude certain age groups. For example, avoid:

  • Requiring an excessive amount of experience (i.e., 7+ years)
  • Asking the year candidates graduated high school or college (do you need to know this?)
  • Requiring all of a candidate’s work history (ask for only relevant work history. This saves you time when sifting through the job description)

Rank Qualities You Need in a Successful Candidate Before You Begin Interviewing

Specify exactly what you need most in your next team member before you begin interviewing candidates. This will help put you in the right mindset and allow you to focus on the skills that are most important and avoid basing your decision on factors that do not matter such as age, race, and gender.

Avoid Asking Questions That Reveal a Candidate’s Age

While you might be able to tell by appearance the general age of a candidate, you should steer clear of asking questions that will date your candidates. Questions to avoid during an interview include:

  • Directly asking a candidate’s age
  • When candidates graduated from college
  • When candidates graduated high school

Steer Clear of Personal Topics

Discussing topics such as children or grandchildren can easily help you determine the age of a candidate, even if that is not your intention. Keep it professional by steering clear of personal topics. Once a candidate is hired, of course, you can take the time to get to know them better, but during the interview process, only questions directly related to the job should be addressed.

Collaborate with Co-workers

Allowing at least one other person in on the hiring process helps to prevent age-related hiring biases. With multiple opinions having a say in the decision, it is much harder to let age play a factor and easier to come to a well-balanced decision.

Find Your Next Ideal Team Member

Resource Staffing, has over 30 years of experience filling your personnel needs. We take the hassle out of hiring so that you can focus on running your business. Let us know what you need in your next team member and let us handle the rest. Request an employee today!

How Should You Encourage a Work-Life Balance for Employees?

Promoting a healthy work-life balance for your staff is mutually beneficial. Employees who feel like they have the time and flexibility to enjoy life are also happier and more productive in the workplace. Ready to encourage a work-life balance within your company?

Follow These Tips to Implement a Work-Life Balance for Your Team

Ask Your Team What They Need

Establish an open line of communication with your employees. Explain your desire to create a culture that promotes a healthy work-life balance. Ask for their input on what policies they would like to see put in place to achieve this goal.

Offer Time to Exercise During the Work Week

Exercise is not only great for your health, but releases endorphins, lowers stress and improves your mental health. Whether it is an in-house facility or a nearby gym, consider offering your employees the ability to go at least once or twice during the workweek on the clock.

Promote Time Off

Time off is important to avoid employee burnout, relieve stress, and spend much needed time with family and friends. Acknowledge that you understand the importance of time off. Encourage employees to take time off and enjoy themselves. Unless it is an emergency, do not contact employees when they are on paid time off.

Offer Flexible Hours

If your company can do so, offer your employees flexible work hours. For instance, if a member of your team has a child who is in a school play, allow your employee to attend their child’s play. The employee will understand if you ask them to come in earlier or stay later to make up the time if necessary.

Make Sure Over-Time is Not the Norm

Your employees will understand that sometimes over-time is necessary. Just make sure not to abuse it. Only ask for overtime if it is critical to getting a project completed. Employees who are asked to work overtime consistently will become burned out and frustrated at the fact that they are missing out on time with their family and friends.

Find the Right Talent That Fits your Company Culture

Encouraging work-life balance in the workplace is a growing trend that isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. The best way to implement this type of culture is to lead by example. When it comes time to find your next team member that fits in with your work culture, partner with one of the leading staffing firms in Texas. Resource Staffing has over 30 years of experience finding the right candidate to fit your personnel needs! Speak with one of our staffing specialists today!

 

A Glossary Of Recruiting Terms Every Job Seeker Should Know

Working with a recruiter is a wonderful tool to utilize when seeking contract, contract to hire, or direct hire positions. Learning the recruiter’s vocabulary will be helpful. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with these common terms recruiters use when communicating with candidates. The ability to “speak the language” can give you better insight into their process and a better idea of what you need to do to breakthrough.

Background check: Employers use background checks to verify the information a job applicant provides, well as to check references and criminal records. Not every employer runs background checks, and the extent to which they do will vary by company, industry and/or role.

Contract-to-hire: Contract-to-hire describes a position where an employee is hired temporarily, but may be employed full-time in the future. This often depends on the amount of work needed, the quality of performance and if the budget allows.

Cover letter: A cover letter is a brief letter you send with your resume to provide more context around it, explain why you are qualified for the job for which you are applying, and show employers your personality. 

Company culture:  Company culture (also known as corporate culture) defines the environment in which employees work. Company culture develops through the beliefs, values, and expectations a company holds and imposes on its employees. For example, some companies have cultures that emphasize teamwork, while others encourage employees to work more independently. Looking for the right “cultural fit” has become increasingly important to both employers and job seekers.

Contract/temp worker: Contract workers or temps are generally hired for special projects, maternity leaves, or holidays. They can be short or long term assignments.

Hourly pay: While most full-time employees receive annual salaries, most temporary employees receive an hourly wage. Unlike salaried employees, employees who receive hourly pay generally do not get benefits like health insurance or paid time off, and only get paid for the time they work; however, if they work overtime, they are entitled to time and a half.

Keywords: Recruiters look for keywords in your resume. The right keywords in your social profiles can also make it easier for recruiters to find you through online search engines.

Recruiter: Oftentimes, when employers need viable candidates for open positions, they turn to recruiters for help. Recruiters seek out, screen, and interview candidates before presenting them to their clients. Resource Staffing has professional, in-house recruiters who will work with you.  Remember to dress professionally and bring an extra copy of your resume with you when you come in to interview with our recruiters.

Resume: Almost every job you apply for will require you to send in a resume. As one of the first things employers look at when assessing potential candidates, your resume is one of the most critical elements of your job search. Your resume is a document that includes your work experience (job titles, employers, duties administered, etc.) and education (school attended, field of study, etc.), along with special skills and professional accomplishments.

Salary: Salary is the fixed payment an employee receives in exchange for work performed. Full-time employees generally receive annual salaries, while temporary, contract, or employees are paid by the hour.

Soft skills: Soft skills are the hard-to-measure skills employers look to evaluate a candidate’s level of professionalism and work ethic. These include interpersonal skills, communication skills, leadership skills, and management skills. We believe skills are just as important to most employers as hard (or technical) skills

Talent Acquisition Specialist: Talent Acquisition Specialist enables job seekers to upload their information (name, contact information, resume, etc.) into a company’s database or directly receive resumes. Once a resume is received, the TAS team reviews the candidate’s resume seeing if their skill set meets the requirements. Once the Talent Acquisition Specialist determines the candidate is qualified, a brief phone interview is conducted and an interview will be scheduled with a recruiter at one of our branch locations.

Temp: Short for “temporary worker” is a worker hired for a set amount of time. Temps usually fill in for employees on vacation, to pick up the slack while a company replaces someone who has quit or to lend an extra hand during particularly busy periods, such as the holiday season. Temps are usually paid on an hourly basis.

Transferable skills: Transferable skills are skills that aren’t directly related to the job in question but can be applied to a wide range of jobs and industries. These skills are usually learned on the job, at school, during volunteer work, through community activities, at networking events or even in everyday social activities.

 

Is Your Company Culture Attracting Top Talent?

The value top talent brings to the table allows them to be able to be picky about who they work for. As a company that wants to attract top talent, you have to up your game. While salary, compensation, and benefits play an important part in a candidate’s decision to accept a position, an appealing company culture plays an even bigger part.

Follow these guidelines to make sure you are fostering an attractive company culture that the best candidates want to be a part of.

Job Responsibilities Should Have Meaning

Top talent has a strong desire to use the skills they have worked so hard to acquire. Ensure the job responsibilities are designed to make good use of the candidate’s skills. In other words, a candidate who has a great deal of experience in marketing strategies should not be in the role of a receptionist taking phone calls all day.

Offer Career Advancement Opportunities

Be transparent about opportunities to advance within the company and layout clear road maps so that candidates understand what it takes to become a permanent employee. Highly sought after candidates are driven and focused. A position that gives candidates room to grow will not only attract top talent but encourage a feeling of company loyalty.

Implement Attractive Work Schedules

A schedule that has potential candidates working late nights and weekends regularly will not be an appealing aspect of your company’s culture. Employees need to know that you care about their personal lives and understand the need for a work-life balance. If unattractive hours are necessary from time-to-time, make sure the employee is compensated somewhere else in the schedule.

Provide Positive Feedback, Respect, and Appreciation

Make sure your company’s atmosphere is a positive one. Every team member, no matter the rank, should treat every employee with respect. Make sure employees receive positive feedback. Your team needs to hear about their positive accomplishments, not just the areas that need improvement. Recognition and appreciation go a long way in making employees happy. Remember to relay positive feedback to our recruiters. We will be sure to pass it along to our associate.

Foster Colleague Camaraderie

Let’s face it, sense colleagues spend at least 40 hours a week together, be sure to foster a sense of camaraderie within your company. It’s great if your employees are friends and hang out after work. Providing an environment in which your employees want to come to work and see each other is an important part of a great company culture.

Let One of  the Leading Staffing Firm in Texas Find Top Talent for Your Company

With over 30 years of experience in finding the perfect candidate to meet the personnel needs of companies just like yours, Resource Staffing is here to help you find the highest-quality candidates to fill open job positions. Get it right the first time, every time and partner with Resource Staffing for all of your employees’ needs!

 

 

How You Should Be Motivating Your Employees for the New Year

A New Year means a new beginning. For many people, this means setting out to accomplish personal goals such as a new exercise or diet regimen. As a business owner or manager, a new year should also mean a new beginning for your company and your staff. Happy, motivated employees are more likely to perform better in the workplace and choose to stay long-term. How do you motivate your employees in 2020? Let’s take a look!

Set Measurable Goals with Rewards

Employees enjoy working for companies that strive to improve constantly. Company improvement shows your staff that the owners and managers care, which has a trickle-down effect and encourages employees to care as well. Set goals for the upcoming 2020 year that include your employees. Force them to have to think outside of the box and improve upon their skills. Establish milestones and rewards once each milestone is reached. For instance, if you break x number in sales by this point in the year, every employee will get a set amount of paid time off.

Provide Feedback to Your Staff

Most employees appreciate feedback. If they are doing a good job, they want to feel appreciated for doing so. If they aren’t, they want to know how to correct their problem areas. No one wants to find out two years down the road that they have been performing a particular task incorrectly the whole time. Meet with each member of your staff and discuss areas where they are excelling and areas that need work. This is also the time to discuss raises and bonuses if applicable.

Provide Ample Opportunity

Make sure your company is one that offers bright futures for their employees. Provide opportunities for growth by promoting from within. It’s not just enough to have the opportunities available. Make sure your employees can see the path to success within your company and that it is attainable!

Offer Opportunities for Further Education

Nothing motivates and shows your commitment to your employees quite like offering further training. You can host training sessions or pay for industry seminars, workshops, and classes. You can even pay for online courses in specific areas that will improve their skill set for your company.

Take the Hassle Out of Hiring

It all starts with finding the perfect candidate. Resource Staffing is one of the leading premier staffing firm in Texas and has years of experience finding just the right candidate to fit your needs. When you partner with Resource Staffing, you can assure those candidates are well-vetted before we send them your way! No more shuffling through piles of sub-par resumes and interviewing clients who barely know your company’s name. Contact us today to request an employee!

 

4 Ways to Encourage Diversity in the Hiring Process for 2020

You’ve heard the old saying, “It takes all kinds.” This is very true for the workplace. Hiring a diverse team is essential to the success of your business. When most people think of diversity, they think of gender and ethnicity. However, diversity is so much more than that. It means hiring candidates with different skill sets, viewpoints, and backgrounds that will collectively make your company better as a whole.

Here are 4 ways to implement diversity in the hiring process for the upcoming year!

1. Ensure the Job Posting is Well-Balanced

Job postings can accidentally be geared towards a particular group. For instance, if you use words such as “assertive,” this is typically seen as a positive quality trait in a male candidate and not so much a female. Instead, use terms which encompass a large group of people such as:

    • “must possess strong leadership skills”
    • “exhibit the ability to work as a team”
    • “motivation to think outside of the box”

These phrases and terms are well-balanced without speaking to a specific sector of the workforce. Before making the job posting public, be sure the job description doesn’t unintentionally discriminate from the get-go and alienate well-qualified candidates who do not fit the typical stereotype.

2. Make Sure Your Interviewing Panel is Diverse

Create a diverse panel of interviewers that candidates can relate too. For example, do not just have interviewers who come from elite schools, or a panel of all men or women. Instead, include interviewers from a variety of backgrounds, different ethnicities, and both genders. This will increase the chances of every interviewee being able to connect with and relate to at least one member of the hiring panel.

3. Make a List of Qualities Needed in Candidates

Before you even begin reviewing resumes or scheduling interviews, make a list of the qualities needed in a candidate to perform the job successfully. This will help to remove any bias before you screen the candidates.

4. Remove Criteria that is Not Essential to Performing the Job Well

It is important to understand that first and foremost, you are selecting the candidate who has the qualities needed to perform the job well. Throw out non-essential criteria such as unrealistic amounts of experience, having to have graduated from specific schools, or coming from a particular background. Encourage applicants who do not exactly match the job requirements to apply still. You never know, you may end up with a diamond in the rough.

Take the Hassle out of Your Next Hire with one of the Leading Staffing Firms in Texas

A diverse team is a strong team. Increase the success of your company by striving for diversity in the hiring process using these 4 tips.

Let Resource Staffing help you find your next great hire. Once our recruiters understand your personnel needs, we will access our large talent pool to find the perfect candidate! Contact us today and find your next team member!

 

4 Ways to Give Back to Your Employees

Showing appreciation for hard work is important for the morale of your staff. Giving back to your employees will increase retention rate and improve productivity and efficiency in the workplace. The method you choose to give back to your team ultimately depends on what motivates them. Get to know your team and the rewards they value the most.

Let’s take a look at four ways companies can reward employees.

1. Everybody Likes to Eat!

Show your appreciation for a job well done by feeding your employees. Here are some ideas on how you can show your appreciation with food:

    • Treat your employees to lunch.
    • Cater a breakfast for your employees.
    • Furnish a variety of snacks in the break room or place a snack item on their desk with a note of appreciation.

2. You Can’t Go Wrong With Gift Cards

A variety of gift cards are a nice way to say “thank you”.  You can offer:

    • Prepaid gift cards
    • Restaurant gift cards
    • Retail store gift cards

3.Offer Monetary Rewards

A monetary bonus is sure to be a crowd-pleaser and will make your employees feel valued and properly compensated. You can offer monthly, quarterly or annual bonuses based on meeting certain goals or as friendly, healthy competition among your team.

4. Verbally Praise Your Employees

Take the time to explain why your employees are doing a good job. In many cases, employees just want their hard work acknowledged and to know they are appreciated. You will be surprised simple “Thank you for all you do” means a lot to a hard-working employee.

Contact Resource Staffing to Find Your Next Great Team Member

The first step to having a great team is to hire top talent. Whether you are looking for a direct-hire, contract or contract-to-hire employee, Resource Staffing can find your next great team member. As one of the leading staffing firms in Texas, our experienced Recruiters will customize solutions to fit your personnel needs. Request an employee today!

Here Are 5 Signs That Your Team is Burned Out

Even the best supervisors will eventually have a team burn out, despite your best efforts. When it does happen, it is time to reevaluate workflow processes. When team members who are typically at the top of their game begin to act otherwise, it might be time to take a closer look at why. Here are five tell-tale signs that your team is burned out.

1. A Decrease in Productivity and Effort

Team members are no longer ahead of schedule or may be even missing deadlines. The work they are completing isn’t of the caliber it used to be. It may be sloppy, boring or unpolished.

2. Unusual Amount of Complaints

Even the pettiest of complaints are typically a sign of a larger problem festering. This is especially true of team members who are normally very content. Team members who are getting bent out of shape about the smallest things is a sign that they are burned out.

3. Seeming Disengaged

These team members will not only seem disengaged from their work, but their co-workers as well. They may still complete quality work on time, but you can tell their heart just isn’t in it. If not addressed, disengagement may lead to a lower quality of work.

4. Taking More Time Off

Team members may be absent from work and taking unexpected time off. These team members may even show up to work late or begin leaving early. They are burned out and desperately trying to find a balance.

5. Showing Increased Sensitivity in the Workplace

Staff members who are burned out are especially sensitive to feedback regarding their work. Even the most constructive criticism can leave team members feeling inadequate and insecure about their work and value with the company.

What Can You Do as a Supervisor?

As a supervisor, you want what is best for your employees. When you sense your team is burned out, it is important to meet with team members individually and as a group. Discuss the reasons for feeling burned out and how certain processes can be changed in order to restore positive energy and morale.

When You Only Want the Best on Your Team

When it comes to making your next hire, you want top-notch talent that meshes well with your team. Resource Staffing, one of the leading staffing firms in Texas will help you find just that. Our staffing specialists are experts in finding the best talent to match your company’s needs and goals. Partner with Resource Staffing and let us put our resources to work to find your next team member!

Cutting Costs: How Working With a Recruiter Saves Our Clients Money

When first considering working with a recruiter, many companies hesitate. There are a few myths about recruiting partnerships – and one of the most daunting is the tale that a recruiter not produce better results than what you can do one your own with less cost.

When you work with the right recruiter for your needs, however, saving money is only the first of many benefits.

Your recruiter becomes a partner in hiring, unlocking access to stronger candidates and changing how you view the hiring process.

Here’s how the right recruiter will save you money:

Supercharging your hiring process.

Are you getting the attention of the best candidates? How often have you watched outstanding professionals walk away from your hiring process? How many of your top choices have said “thanks, but no thanks” to a job offer?

Recruiters specialize in knowing the industries they serve inside and out – and that means knowing what engages superstars in the hiring process and prompts them to say “yes!” to job offers or assignments (hint: it’s not always the salary). They also know which “passive candidates” aren’t actively looking for a job but would entertain an offer for an outstanding fit.

Shortening time to hire.

It cost your company money every day a position is open. Other staff must forego productive tasks to address the opening’s core responsibilities. Managers must put aside productive projects to deal with hiring, as well.

By shortening the length of time to hire, your recruiter helps you reduce the costs of lost productivity – without ever compromising on candidate quality.

Improving candidate quality.

Recruiters focus on building relationships. They do so because they find out what the client is needing including candidate’s skills, experience, cultural and personality fit.

When you hire candidates curated for your culture, the new employee’s learning curve is shorter. They have the skills and experience you need and the vision, values and approach to work that mesh easily with how you want things done.

Freeing you to focus on high-value tasks.

Scanning resumes, calling references, preparing job posting can be time-consuming. They’re all essential tasks for a good hire, but they also pull you away from the work that really impacts your company’s bottom line.

Your recruiter reduces the time you must spend on hiring tasks, so you can focus your attention on other important issues.

How Resource Staffing can help.

At Resource Staffing, our recruiters are committed to optimizing clients’ hiring processes, saving both time and money. Just give us a call and let us put our resources to work for you!

 

7 Styles of Management & What Will Work for You

We’ve all been in the position where we like our supervisor but can’t handle their management style. Managing may seem straight forward, but when you are dealing with a staff made up of different personalities, it can get tricky fast. You want to make sure the job is done correctly while maintaining a positive atmosphere and high morale among your employees. Let’s take a look at seven management styles and what will work for you.

Directive Management

Managers who prefer a direct management style make it clear they are the boss and their staff answers to them. The boundaries are very clear. It is not a democracy. They keep a close eye on their staff’s work and make all the decisions.

Inspirational Management

If you choose this type of management style, you are not as involved with the day-to-day activities. Your goal is to make sure your team is on the same page and aligned with the company’s goals. In essence, you convey to your team the overall vision of current projects and let them have the creative freedom to bring them to fruition.

Transactional Management

This management style focuses on using rewards and benefits to motivate your staff. For example, you might have a reward for the member who makes the most sales each month. The rewards you choose will depend on what is feasible for your company and what motivates your team.

Coaching Management

This type of management style means you spend a great deal of time supporting and coaching your team. You have a very hands-on approach and know their jobs just as well as they do. This is a lead-by-example approach to management. Employees see you as a mentor rather than a dictator.

Pacesetting Management

The idea behind this style is to set a challenging pace for your team and expect them to keep up. Normally you are trying to outdo yourself by reaching bigger goals.

Participative Management

In this style of management, you make sure everyone’s opinion gets heard and take it into consideration. You run your team like a democracy. While you are still the final decision maker, it is more of a collaborative effort among you and your team.

Laissez-Faire Management

This is the most hands-off management style. Once you’ve briefed your team on the project and the intended goal, you do not interfere unless something goes wrong. This management style gives employees the most creative freedom in the workspace.

Take the Hassle out of Hiring Your Next Employee

It takes countless hours to create a job description, post the job, filter through resumes and set up job interviews. When you partner with Resource Staffing, our experts will filter through resumes, conduct thorough background checks and find suitable candidates for you to interview so you can spend your time doing more important things. Contact us today and let us help you find your next great team member