KEY TRENDS IN RECRUITING TO IDENTIFY, ENGAGE, AND HIRE TOP TALENT

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by BLR

Here are some of the top trends in recruiting that promise to change the way organizations identify, engage, and ultimately hire top talent in the coming years and how employers can adapt procedures to these changes to ensure a successful recruiting program.

There are three major trends in how companies connect with top talent in today’s challenging recruiting landscape. These include:

 

1. Increasing role of the employer brand

Two-thirds of HR leaders surveyed say their organization is more focused on employer branding than they were 5 years ago. Additionally, more than half (57%) attribute their company’s ability to attract top talent to a strong brand. Not only does an enhanced employer brand help draw in qualified candidates, but it can also lead to improved corporate awareness and reputation.

Moreover, the top three reasons why organizations succeed in attracting top talent were found to be a pronounced reputation and brand, strong industry appeal, and competitive salary and benefits. These factors further drive the need for companies to continually enhance their brand to stand out as an employer of choice.

 

2. Culture and aptitude fit win over skills

Company culture has an enormous impact on attracting and retaining top talent, which explains why many of the companies noted for their unique, enjoyable work cultures are also some of the most profitable. Investing in the creation and continuous improvement of a differentiated company culture should be a priority for C-suite executives. At the same time, aptitude, personality, and cultural fit will emerge as key factors in the talent selection process, favored over traditional hiring factors, such as specific qualifications.

Focusing on aptitude and attitude to do the job, and investing in learning and development to build needed skills and qualifications, will enable organizations to expand their talent pool and enhance their culture.

 

3. The rise of online talent communities

More employers will build robust talent communities throughout 2015 to engage with a larger talent pool. This will provide access to passive and active candidates, past applicants, current and former employees, and other members who help employers find the talent they’re looking for.

Overall, the company found that 50% of employers plan to invest in social media and online community management in 2015 to better tap this source of talent.

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http://trendpersonnel.com/en/news/item/154-key-trends-in-recruiting-to-identify-engage-and-hire-top-talent

Great Questions to Ask During Interviews!

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Of course we all are looking for the best fit for the job, right? But how often do you think about their ability to handle your particular management style? This is often an area that managers overlook when asking the candidates questions during an interview.

Here are some questions that you should consider asking in your interviews to help assess the candidate’s adaptability to different management styles:

1. Describe the perfect manager.
2. Based on your past employment, who would you choose as the best manager you’ve had the opportunity to work for? Why were they good?
3. Based on your past employment, who would you choose as your least favorite manager? Why were they your least favorite? How did you adapt?
4. How do you handle conflict with your managers? Disagreements? How do you resolve issues?

By asking questions similar to the ones listed above, you’ll find a greater understanding of how the candidate feels about different management styles. If you find that you’re for the most part the ideal manager described by the candidate then you can have confidence that you’ll work great together should you decide to hire them for the position. On the other hand, if you really like the candidate but worry about being similar to the manager that was their least favorite then you can consider ways to adapt to ensure a smooth and successful relationship if you decide to hire them on.

You shouldn’t base your hiring decision on whether or not they can or cannot handle your management style but rather use these questions to help prepare yourself for building and maintaining successful relationships with new hires.

http://trendpersonnel.com/en/news/item/145-great-questions-to-ask-during-interviews

Refresh Your Resume in Six Steps

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applying for jobs in dallas, Career Profile, dallas temp jobs, dfw staffing, Hiring managers, hiring professionals, proofread your résumé, resume writing tips, rockwall jobs, Target Job, trend personnel services

By Karen Hofferber | Monster

Many people are facing the prospect of finding a new job. And some are even contemplating a complete career change. If it has been years since you last updated your resume, you may be wondering where to start. Follow these six steps to turn your dusty retro resume into a high-powered personal marketing tool for winning interviews in today’s competitive job market.

1. Find Your Resume’s Focus

Before you start refreshing your old resume, clarify your job target. Without a clear vision of your career direction, your resume won’t do a good job of selling you to potential employers. If you have more than one career interest, you’ll be much better off developing different versions of your resume rather than trying to construct a one-size-fits-all document.

Having trouble finding your focus? You might want to start with some self-assessment tests or by speaking to a career counselor.

2. Research Your Target Job

Thoroughly research your job target before writing the first draft of your resume, especially if it’s been awhile since you’ve been in the job market. Talk to people in your target industry, and scour job postings on Monster to get a good idea of the qualifications employers are looking for. If you are changing careers, your research may prompt you to enroll in continuing-education classes to gain new skills.

Look for keywords that continually crop up in different ads. If you see terms used frequently, they should probably be in your resume whenever applicable. Pay attention to skills that aren’t mentioned in these ads as well, and remove items from your old resume that will make you seem outdated.

3. Develop Your Career Profile/Objective 

Now you’re ready to begin writing. If you’re a career changer, you’ll need a clearly stated objective to open your resume. Don’t expect busy hiring managers to figure out what you want to do. Use this section to explain key skills you can leverage from your prior career into your new job target. Emphasize how you can help the organization, rather than what you want in a job.

Here’s a before-and-after example:

• Before: Seeking a challenging position with a future-oriented company offering opportunities for growth and advancement.
• After: Dynamic public speaker/presenter with advanced technical knowledge, seeking to leverage these strengths as an award-winning computer instructor into an entry-level software sales position.

If you’re looking for a new position within your current field, use the Objective section to write a compelling career summary. This is the perfect place to write a few hard-hitting sentences emphasizing the breadth of your experience and the value you bring to the table.

4. Zero in on Your Achievements

Your resume must have an accomplishments-driven focus to compete in today’s job market and maximize calls for interviews. Avoid simply rehashing boring job descriptions. Instead, detail the results and outcomes of your efforts.

If you were a hiring manager, which would you find more compelling?

• Before: Responsible for troubleshooting and maintaining workstations and systems.
• After: Improved systems uptime from 91% to 99.9% for 350 corporate and remote users through expert, cross-platform (Windows/Unix) troubleshooting/maintenance.

For each of the positions you’ve held, use action verbs and phrases to describe how you contributed to your employers, such as cut costs, generated revenue, improved service, enhanced processes, solved problems and saved time. Use numbers, percentages, dollar amounts, comparisons or other key details to back up your claims. Be sure not to reveal facts that disclose proprietary or confidential company information.

5. Design Your Resume

Does your retro resume resemble a typing job circa 1977? To stand out from the crowd, use your word-processing program’s advanced formatting features, such as bold, italics, line draw, industry icons, attractive fonts, etc. — without going overboard — to give your resume a distinctive look. If you are not confident in your design capabilities, seek assistance from a resume writer or talented friend.

6. Proofread and Test-Drive

Your resume must be perfect. Carefully proofread your resume to ensure proper grammar, punctuation and word use. If you are changing careers, ask for feedback from hiring managers in your targeted field for valuable input on how your resume stands up to the competition. .

http://trendpersonnel.com/en/news/item/136-refresh-your-resume-in-six-steps

Résumés—Stop Wasting Time!

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by Stephen Bruce | BLR

By the way, if you  end up in that cartoonish position of having 2,000 online applicants, you  probably need to find some knockout requirements to get that pile smaller. Or,  you could, for example, decide to look only at the first 250. Whatever system  you choose, be sure that it doesn’t discriminate.

Your Time Is Precious

You need a system to keep all those unqualified candidates’ credentials off your  desk and off your computer desktop as well.

Clear and Detailed Postings

First of all, in all your advertising and posting, be clear about the requirements and be specific about the job. Unqualified candidates will self-select out, and the best candidates will be intrigued by the close match between what you seek and what they offer.

Complete and Consistent Data

In many cases, you’re stuck with a variety of application material such as application  forms filled out by walk-ins, e-mail notes, letters from various people recommending candidates, and letters or résumés with little information in them.

Before you review, try to get as much information as possible in  the same format. You can’t compare one candidate who submitted a brief letter  to one who sent in a detailed résumé and filled out an application. If  information is too brief, ask the person to apply online with full information or request a more-detailed résumé.

Review Efficiently

Next, be careful to review credentials efficiently. In the winnowing process, you  want to spend as little time as possible with the obvious rejects—and more time on serious candidates.

http://trendpersonnel.com/en/news/item/133-resumes-stop-wasting-time

Things You Should Never Do When Applying For A Job

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              Vivian Giang | Business Insider

Never make your cover letter or introductory email longer than three paragraphs

Here’s what you should include:

1. Why you are sending the cover letter.
2. How (or from whom) you heard about the opening.
3. Something specific that cannot be inferred from your resume (i.e. work situation, special skills or the kind of job you’re looking for).

Here’s what you shouldn’t include:

• Don’t state what kind of pay you’re looking for since there are many different components in a salary package that can confuse a recruiter. This is the kind of thing that can be discussed during or after the interview.

Don’t put your name and contact info on the side, bottom or back of your resume — they should always be at the top

This is how it should be done:

1. Put your name in bold face and/or regular caps.
2. Include your full address and home, work (optional) and/or cell phone numbers and your email address but do not bold these.

Education should never be listed above experience

Unless you have five higher education degrees.

Or if you’ve recently completed a degree and don’t have too much of a work history. The rule here is that you can list “Education” first if you’ve graduated within two years.

• Also, always list the most recent degree first and continue in descending order.

Don’t break the one-page rule unless you have more than 8 years of experience

But if you have a lot of experience, then two pages can be used — just don’t fill up the second page.

Here are the basic rules:

1. A full-time job that lasted less than three months doesn’t need to be included.
2. If you have 3+ years of work experience, omit summer jobs, but internships related to your current job experience can still be included.
3. If you have 15+ years of work experience then your first job doesn’t need to be included, especially if it’s unrelated to your industry or to the position you’re applying for.

Don’t include short, worthless descriptions. Back up your credibility with some impressive numbers

If you’re applying for a job within the same industry, include some big numbers that will surely place you closer to the top of the pile.

For example:

• Manage a portfolio of $750MM
• Billed over $500k in 2010
• Market to Fortune 1000 companies with a minimum of $1B in sales

http://trendpersonnel.com/en/news/item/130-things-you-should-never-do-when-applying-for-a-job

Hitting the Team Member Trifecta

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dallas jobs, dfw staffing, element of success, look for in management team, people on my team, professional jobs, rockwall positions, team chemistry, Team Member, Team Member Trifecta, trend personnel

by Dan Oswald | BLR

In a recent conversation with an organizational psychologist, I was asked, “What are the top three things you look for in the members of your management team?” That’s a big and important question.

Yet I was able to answer it quickly and easily: “Trustworthiness, compatibility, and talent.” The next sentence I uttered might surprise you; it surprised me. Without really thinking, I followed up my four-word sentence about what I look for in the people who make up my management team with these three words: “In that order.”

And I stand by my answer. After the meeting concluded, I thought a lot about what the psychologist had asked and even more about my answer. And the more I considered it, the more certain I was that my answer was accurate. Trustworthiness, compatibility, and talent are the three things I consider most important in the people on my team. I’m not saying they’re the only answers or even the right answers. They’re just the right answers for me.

Trustworthiness

If you’ve read much of what I write about leadership, you know trust is a common theme. I’ve been on enough teams to know that trust is a critical element of success—in fact, I think it’s the most important. I don’t believe a team can function properly without it.

Team members must believe that their teammates can and will do their job so the team will succeed. They must trust that their teammates will put the team’s interest and success above their own. They must trust that their teammates will join with them to tackle even the most difficult circumstances. Sure, like everything else, trust is easy when things are good. But when the going gets difficult, do the members of your team trust one another? So trustworthiness tops my list. If people aren’t worthy of their teammates’ trust, then they don’t have a place on the team.

Compatibility

The second item on my list is compatibility. I believe you must like and respect the people with whom you work. I hear people say they don’t care whether or not they like their coworkers, but I don’t buy it. Life’s too short to spend it with people you don’t like.

If you work a regular 40-hour workweek for 52 weeks a year, you’ll spend more than 2,000 hours with your coworkers. Most of us spend as much time with our coworkers as we spend with our families. Do you really want to spend that time with people you don’t like? I don’t. And more important, a team in which the members don’t like one another is much less likely to succeed. They call this “team chemistry.” It’s hard to define, but when you have it, you know it. There’s a certain amount of momentum that comes from a team with chemistry that you don’t find in a team without it. Compatibility is critical for a team to succeed.

Talent

Third on my list is talent. Some might take exception with talent falling into third place, but I stand by my answer. You see, I don’t care if you’re the most talented person for any specific role—if you aren’t trustworthy or compatible with the other members of the team, you aren’t going to help the team. Period. Does that mean talent isn’t important? Of course not. But I want the most talented person I can find who is also trustworthy and fits well with my team.

I’ve had people who are incredibly bright, experienced, and talented but fail because they don’t fit with the team. Either their teammates didn’t trust them or they weren’t compatible with the team. It’s like a body that rejects an organ. The team will reject that person—regardless of his or her abilities—if the person doesn’t meet the other two criteria. So is talent important? Yes, incredibly so. It’s just not the most important.

If you consider this short list, you’ll see just how hard it is to find the right people for your team. You don’t need to find only trustworthy people. You need trustworthy people who are compatible with the other members of your team—and are the most talented you can find while still possessing the traits necessary to fulfill the first two criteria. You’re looking to hit the trifecta. Ask any gambler just how hard that is.

http://trendpersonnel.com/en/news/item/118-hitting-the-team-member-trifecta

Interviewing Behavior

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by Steve Bruce 

Always  go after behavior during your interviews. The best-qualified  candidate may be miserable, grumpy, and complaining. You don’t want that in a  coworker. On the other hand, you don’t want a happy-go-lucky accountant,  either.

Here are some suggestions for interview questions:

• Describe your typical workday from start to finish.
• What was the last thing you did to make your job easier?
• What have you done to reduce costs or save time in your current position?
• Tell me about your last workplace evaluation.
• Give an example of how you adapt to change.
• Give an example of how you solved a specific problem.
• Give an example of your creativity at work.
• What is the biggest misperception of you?
• Describe something you have done that shows your commitment to ensuring customer  satisfaction.

‘Please Sue Me’  Interviewing Horror Story

A lawyer tells of one manager he encountered who was proud of his cleverness in  interviewing young ladies. He asked them, “Are you going to be ‘in the family  way’?” He hadn’t mentioned the word “pregnant,” and he thought that meant he  was legally in the clear.

http://trendpersonnel.com/index.php/en/news/item/104-interviewing-behavior