Why HR Tech Is a Supplement – Not a Replacement
For most of us recruiters, technology is our partner in crime. As we become more strategic in our methods, the technology we need becomes more advanced, too. And yet, for those recruiters who are still heavily dependent on the antiquated manual ways, new technologies can seem unnecessary or (gasp!) as if they are here to replace us all. But nothing could be further from the truth....
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Networking: Don't Be Afraid to Reach Out
One of the many things that stop us in our job-seeking tracks is the online application process. We submit resume after resume and never seem to hear anything back. If the Internet isn't working, then what's the answer? The best solution is to reach out to real, live people. In today's age, it's tough to stop by someone's home unannounced – or even call someone without notice....
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9 Funding Tips for Entrepreneurs
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: One of the biggest challenges any entrepreneur faces is finding money to fund their startup. What tips do you have to help...
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5 Qualities to Look for When Hiring Remote Employees
Approximately 37 percent of American workers telecommute on occasion. That's up from only 9 percent of the U.S. workforce in 1995, and the remote job trend is not expected to slow down any time soon – neither in the U.S. nor abroad. In part, that's because virtual employees can save organizations a lot of money. For example, in one study, a Chinese travel agency saved $1,900 per remote...
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How to Manage Your Small Startup Team's Big Ambitions
Expressions like "succession planning" and "career ladders" make us think of large enterprises with mile-long org charts. That's the stuff of massive corporations, right? It needn't bother entrepreneurs striking out on their own. Well, not exactly. Even small businesses need to offer some form of career progression. Research shows that about 40 percent of your staff members are looking...
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Experiential Rewards: For a Better Employee Recognition Program, Ditch the Gift Cards
They say you should never go into business with your friends, but Taylor Smith and Kevin Yip, the entrepreneurs behind employee rewards and recognition company Blueboard, totally ignored that advice. They met in a basketball league when they were both in the third grade, and they've been practically inseparable ever since. And it's a good thing they did ignore that advice,...
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Why Veterans Make Great Business Leaders
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the nation's veteran population across all service branches numbered more than 21 million as of 2014, and between 240,000 and 360,000 people leave military service every year. These vets face many obstacles as they transition into the civilian workforce. These obstacles receive widespread attention in the media, but by and large, little has...
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Want a Promotion? 10 Ways to Get It
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: What tips do you have for employees who want to make a good impression and snag a promotion? What are the best ways to get...
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Facing Your Feedback: How to Ask for Post-Interview Insights if You Didn't Get the Job
At school, at home, and in the office, we learn the value of feedback. However, there's one situation in particular in which feedback really matters – but we often fail to ask for it: when we have been turned down for a position or promotion. Consider this: Asking for feedback after being rejected is one of the best ways to shift from emotional reaction to professional proaction. While...
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Emotional Contagion: The Interview Hack You Never Knew You Needed
Want to be better at job interviews? Here is a nice little hack that can have wide-reaching benefits for you: You Probably Don't Realize It, But Your Interviewer Is Nervous, Too An important thing to be aware of in job interviews – but one that you probably don't think much about – is the state of the interviewer's mind. As an interviewee, you have your own angst to deal – but...
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How to Make Radical Changes to Your Business Without Alienating Employees
Ambitious small businesses can be exciting and dynamic environments, full of energy and hope. However, problems can arise when a sudden change in business direction occurs –usually due to some external market factor – and the business is forced to deviate from its original course – a course to which the whole team was seriously committed. This sharp change in direction can be...
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6 Priceless Resources for Finding the Best Job Applicants
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question on jobs data you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: You need to hire -- where do you turn first for awesome applicants? The answers below are provided by...
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6 Ways to Build and Sustain an Engaging Company Culture
Creating and maintaining a thriving company culture really boils down to one thing: employee engagement. You must really take a look at your organization and answer a challenging question: Are employees committed to the company and to their work? With 20+ years of leading HR and training functions under my belt, I believe that employees are most engaged when they have a strong sense of...
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7 Motivational Quotes to Help You Face Your Fears
Fear is something that lurks in the shadows of our minds, something that haunts us, paralyzes us. Like anybody else, I know what fear feels like. When I'm anxious about something, my stomach does somersaults and my throat gets tight. My mind gets tangled, muddled – the worry, the dread, stalks my thoughts. What are you afraid of? Have you ever really thought about them – the...
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In Spite of Gender Pay Gap, Women Earn Greater Return on Investment in Higher Education
The U.K. is Europe's most popular destination for international students, and the second in the world after the U.S. The strong reputation of British universities guarantees a competitive advantage to those who gain a U.K. degree. It is not cheap to do so, though. Course fees in the U.K. vary, but the average Ph.D. costs students from within the European Union (E.U.) between £3,000...
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7 Innovative Tech Tools Recruiters Should Leverage Today
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question on employment data you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: What recruiting tech tools are you most excited about? What general trends or specific technologies do you...
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5 Things That Have Changed in the Job Market Since Your Last Interview
Such is the rate of change in hiring practices: If you've been out of the job market for five years – which is the average amount of time people spend in a job in the U.S. – you may have fallen out touch. Your expectations for how things should operate in the job market will probably be outdated, and you'll be the equivalent of a job-seeking dinosaur! I exaggerate – We haven't...
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The Make-or-Break Stakes of Candidate Experience
Most of us in the world of recruitment have long understood that we are sales and marketing people sitting under the umbrella of "human resources" (I disagree with the function reporting to "HR" – but that is a whole other post). Armed with this understanding, we have embraced sales and marketing training and tools in order to learn from these fields and attract and close candidates...
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What the Most Successful People Know About Finding Career Happiness
"You work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do." – Steve Jobs A 2015 SHRM report found that, in 2014, 86 percent of U.S. employees were satisfied with their current jobs – up from 81 percent in 2013. Of this group, 39 percent of employees...
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Job Seeker Central: Top 10 Bloggers All Job Seekers Should Follow
Welcome to Top 10, Recruiter.com's weekly rundown of the best of the best in recruiting! Every Friday, we release a list of some of our favorite people, things, and ideas dominating the industry. From awesome tech tools and cool companies to great books and powerful trends, no stone in the recruiting space will be left unturned. This Week: Top 10 Bloggers Every Job Seeker Should...
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5 Reasons Why Recruiters Might Want to Invest in Virtual Phone Services
There are many people who can benefit from virtual phone systems, and recruiters are among them. That's because virtual phone systems allow recruiters to do their jobs from any location. No matter where they are, they can make and receive those critical calls to and from candidates and hiring managers. Not sold on the idea of a virtual phone system? Here are five benefits recruiters will...
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What to Know Before Selling Your Business
Building up a business is a valuable life experience, and selling it is just as exciting. Obviously, there is the financial gain, but you can also point to it and say, "I made that." But before you put up that virtual "for sale" sign, you need to stop and ask yourself three questions: 1. "I Sold the Business. What Do I Do Now?" You've spent most days for the past few years working...
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Speak Up: A Guide to Presenting Dissenting Opinions in the Workplace
In the late '80s,I became a board member of Portland, Maine's politically influential Parkside Neighborhood Association. I was in my early 20s, single, ambitious, and looking to make a difference – and the association was looking for an infusion of younger people reflective of the influx of new residents who were moving into Maine's "City by the Sea," as Longfellow affectionately called...
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9 Professional Development Resources for Entrepreneurs
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: What are some of your favorite professional/career development resources for entrepreneurs? From books and websites to...
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Workplace Romance: A Dangerous Affair
As if balancing work and life outside of the office weren't enough, there's a high likelihood you'll eventually have to deal with employees who nurture romances in the workplace. This adds yet another ball to the work-life balancing act. And let's not let employers and supervisors off the hook either: According to a survey conducted by Harris Poll, a quarter of office romances are between...
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Best Practices for Creating an Effective Remote-Working Workplace
The remote workplace is hardly a novelty anymore. Research suggests that 63 million Americans will work remotely by 2016, and that's more than one-third of the country's entire workforce. The benefits of a remote workplace can be substantial, particularly for hiring managers in highly specialized industries like pharmaceuticals. Setting up remote workspaces lets you hire people you might...
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The Recipe for Resume Success
If you visit my website, you'll see that I've read more than 500,000 resumes. It is a frustrating exercise, because most are little more than spam (resumes that in no way fit the requirement) or are badly written – a simple recitation of responsibilities without contextualizing the work that was done. I was interviewing Ron Nash for my podcast, Job Search Radio, a few weeks ago, and...
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9 Buzzwords You Don't Want to Ruin Your Job Descriptions
You need to hire someone. It's time to sit down and write that job description! "Let's make it really special," you think. "Can't just call it a plain, old marketer, developer, or sales position. Let's add awesome adjectives and nouns! Like ninja marketer, rockstar developer, and sales guru!" Sure. There you have it: what others call "buzzwords." They may sound cool, but they...
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5 Tips to Help You Manage Difficult – but Brilliant – Employees
One of the biggest challenges you'll face as an entrepreneur is managing team and personality dynamics. Any small business environment will have a mix of personalities present, and studies show that entrepreneurs need to display flexible leadership styles that an adapt to suit a range of situations and personalities if they are to lead their teams successfully. You'll need to give some...
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Difficult Coworkers: 8 Tips to Help You Save Your Sanity
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: Conflicts arise between peers in the workplace. That's just bound to happen. But what can employees do when they find that...
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Feel the Power: 9 Ways to Feel Confident During the Job Interview
Sitting through an interview can be a nerve-wracking experience for even the most confident of people. It is so easy to feel as if you have no control over the process and that you have no choice but to follow the lead of the interviewer – unless you take action to claim some of your power back. If you want to feel more confident and in control during job interviews, consider a few of...
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How to Get the Most From Your Employee Referral Program
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: We all know that employee referral programs (ERPs) help employers make better hires in less time – but only when they're...
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FLSA Changes Are Coming: Is Your Staffing Model Ready?
Last year, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced changes to the exempt classifications under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). These changes will have a profound impact on your staffing model and labor budget. We checked in with our colleague, employment attorney Sonja McGill of Bell Nunnally Martin LLP. Here are a few insights she had on how employers should prepare for these...
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5 Ways to Keep Your Job Search a Secret From Your Boss
There can be some benefits to letting your boss know that you are looking for another job opportunity – for example, they might offer you a raise in an attempt to keep you around. But being open about your job search can also backfire, because being seen as a flight-risk may have a negative effect on your reputation. You might be seen as disloyal, less trustworthy, and less reliable....
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Getting a Job With an Online Degree: 7 Things to Think About
For most college students, a job – or a better job than the one they have now – is the goal. This tends to hold true regardless of whether we're talking about traditional students or students pursuing their degrees through nontraditional means – the number of which continues to grow. The need to find cheaper, more convenient ways to earn college degrees, combined with new...
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How to Find a Job Without Using a Job Board
Job boards still remain an effective way to find a job, but they are only half the story. Many of the best jobs are still filled via networking and word-of-mouth referrals. These jobs, which often never make it to a job board, may account for as much as half of all open positions. If you stick to job boards all your job-searching life, you'll never access this "secret" network of jobs....
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6 Things Recruiters Need to Know About Big Data
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: It's become fashionable to talk about big data, but many recruiters and HR pros still feel uninformed about what, exactly,...
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5 Must-Answer Questions to Help You Prepare for an Interview
Interview skills come easy to some, and are terribly difficult to master for others. However, the good news is that these skills can be learned. I know this from personal experience: I have put a lot of practice and hard work into honing in my interview skill set. Today, I want to share a few questions you should practice answering before any interview. They are seemingly simply questions...
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Your Best Employees Are Going to Leave – and That's Okay
Once upon a time, an employee joined a company and stayed for life. Those days are over, and they will probably never come back, but many companies today have yet to embrace this fact. Their structures and HR processes treat turnover as the exception, rather than the norm. Operating as if employees will stay for decades sets everyone up for failure when those employees inevitably move...
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How and Where to Find Investors for Your Startup
If you have decided that you can't go it alone and that you need investors for your new startup, then you might think your next step is to find those investors you need. But you can't just walk up to people, tell them that you are starting a business, and ask for their hard-earned money. You need to have a plan in place that will demonstrate to potential investors exactly what your...
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How the Best Recruiters Communicate
As a recruiter, you're often a candidate's first touchpoint with a company. You're the first opportunity for an employer to make a good impression, yours is the first hand that a potential employee shakes, and you're the first ambassador of an employer's brand. Because of all this, your ability to communicate well can be the difference between establishing a new relationship or losing...
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Press Play on Your Video Recruitment Efforts
In 2016, you're reading these words. But if it were 2019, chances are you'd be watching me tell you this story. Cisco predicts that video will make up 80 percent of all consumer Internet traffic just three years from now (in 2014, this number was 64 percent). This trend will also impact the way you engage with talent, if it hasn't already. Failure to press play – now – on a strategy to...
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You Can't Tax Me, I'm an Independent (Contractor)
Do you use independent contractors as part of your staffing model? If so, you should be aware of sweeping changes that the Department of Labor (DOL) is making to determine if your workers are truly independent contractors or actually employees. In the past, the Department of Labor (DOL) used to rely on the IRS 20-factor test to determine if a worker was an independent contractor or...
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Investing in Recruiting Tech: Advice From the Experts
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: With robust investment demand and new companies launching every day, the recruiting technology startup environment has...
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4 Ways to Elevate the Quality of Your Healthcare Talent
It's a new year with new goals, and for a majority of healthcare recruiters, improving candidate quality is a top priority. With all of the recent regulatory changes in the healthcare environment, that link between candidate quality and quality of patient care has jumped from business-as-usual to central focus for hospitals and health practices. Progressive organizations are tracing quality...
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Organizational Culture: 9 Tips for Entrepreneurs
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! Today's Question: When entrepreneurs are launching their startups, they have to think about the kind of company culture they want to build....
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Performance Reviews: A Brief Guide for Employees
Reviews have become the standard way in which we communicate our satisfaction or displeasure with one another. Chances are good that the last time you had a negative experience at a restaurant, you logged on to a site like Yelp to share your experience with the online community. Your annual performance evaluation serves a similar purpose. However, more is at stake for you at work. The...
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Funding Your Startup: Self-Finance or Seek Investors?
Starting your own business can be a dream come true – but if you want the dream to continue and the business to stay afloat, you need to secure financing. There are two options available to you as an entrepreneur: self-financing or finding investors. Both options have their pros and cons. Let's take a look at each, so you can get a better idea of what you may be getting into. Seeking...
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