Why You Can’t Afford Not to Hire College Graduates

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By Krista Williams | BLR

I have been working with college students … well, since I was in college. In most, if not all, of my positions I have had the fortune of working with interns, new graduates, placement offices, faculty, and students. My support has not only been to assist in job placement but also to support the transition of students from the life of ramen noodles and 10 a.m. classes to meeting the demands of a completely connected work environment with high expectations.

I enjoy the aspect of the students being full of life, holding huge aspirations, and having absolutely no idea how to get where they are trying to go. I have partnered with placement offices at several colleges and managed college hiring programs for several organizations. Over the years, some things have changed and some things haven’t at all. Here is what I have learned and what I would advise hiring managers to keep in mind:

Students have very limited views of the types of positions they can actually perform once they graduate.

They need to speak with a lot of people in various industries in order to be able to make an educated decision about where they should be focusing their career search efforts. There are several places that we are able to assist and make an impact on college graduate entry into our desired markets.

As a prospective employer, you can offer internship programs, volunteer to be a guest speaker, participate as a guest panelist, and/or sign up for career day involvement as a start.

Companies should hire for potential, not experience.

A pickle we often get in is that if we do have entry-level positions, we think we are too busy to slow down enough to train someone without experience. I disagree. This is an opportunity to take someone without any preconceived notions about what it is like to work for an employer—someone who has not developed any bad habits yet—and completely mold him or her into the type of worker we would like. This particularly helps in high production environments of companies with really elevated goal structures. If you are able to attract highly talented, motivated, bright, competitive staff, they will only have one another to compare themselves to—not a slower paced previous past place of employment.

Provide training and opportunity.

Whether it is on the desk or in the training room, make sure you are providing an environment where your eager, fresh graduates can continually learn. They are coming off many years of absorbing lots and lots of information and let’s face it, if you don’t use it, you lose it. Make sure that you keep your new hires challenged, interested, and involved.

Don’t worry about whatever path you thought was good enough for you or others several years ago. Allow effort, production, and results to speak for themselves and reward based on performance.

Although I will be the first to admit that sometimes time is the best teacher, as you get to experience lifecycles and events recurring, don’t let too much time go by and allow the next best opportunity to come from an outside employer. The first several moves or promotions for fresh graduates (once earned) should be made in shorter time intervals their first 2–5 years of work. Otherwise, you may stand to lose your rising leaders to competitors who may appear to value their worth sooner than you do. Stay abreast of talent, how marketable they are, and make sure they are rewarded appropriately.

There is a great amount of opportunity for everyone if we work together and have the right frame of mind. So, next time you think you must have 3–5 years’ experience in a hire, think again. And take a close look at the advantages of hiring a fresh college grad.

http://trendpersonnel.com/en/news/item/142-why-you-can-t-afford-not-to-hire-college-graduates

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The Only Resume Advice You’ll Ever Need

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by Trudy Steinfeld | Forbes

If you have ever been looking for a job I’m sure asked yourself:  “What can I do to make my resume stand out and get an employer to seriously consider me for a job”?   If you Googled the term “resume”, you know that there’s a dizzying array of information and advice out there about what works best in putting something together that presents you best.  How do you make sense of it all?  I’m going to make it easy for you – I have looked at well over 50,000 resumes and talk daily with Recruiters and HR Directors who are often the ones making the first pass at your resume.

No matter your experience level or what kind of job you’re looking for, these are the most important “insider tips” you will need to know and do:

1. The “one-size fits all” approach won’t cut it in a marketplace of increasingly specialized needs.  So plan on having several versions of your resume adjusted for the different jobs you are applying for. Include ways you can make an immediate contribution to the organization that reflects the homework you should be doing about the organization you’re applying to. Make sure that you – and at least one other person you trust – carefully review your resume and adjust it to contain the “key words” that recruiters will be searching for.
2. Don’t worry about an objective – employers will skip over this, or worse, will screen your resume out based on an objective that is not a perfect match for the job they are hiring for. Instead let your experience, skills and results-driven descriptions make the case for you.
3. “Space equals importance”, so put the most critical information first and spend more time and space talking about the skills, experiences, and results that are directly related to the job you are applying for.
4. Avoid all complicated fonts or design elements. To be considered an applicant, you will likely be uploading your resume to an applicant tracking system (ATS) on a company or third-party web site. These systems have a difficult time deciphering elaborate fonts or design elements and if your resume can’t be read easily, it won’t be read at all.
5. Quantify whenever possible. We live in a metrics driven work culture and it’s no longer enough to state that you increased sales or productivity, you need to back it up with quantifiable data whenever possible.
6. Check your resumes for errors of fact, typos, formatting woes or omissions. After you checked it and before you send it to an employer, let a trusted person in your network review it as well. One inaccuracy or misspelling could cost you a second look.
7. Omit any unnecessary, or potentially controversial, information, including sexual orientation, religious or political affiliations. It’s illegal for employers to ask for this information and irrelevant to whether you are a strong candidate for the job.
8. “Size matters” and no one has the time to spend a long time reviewing a resume. Keep the resume to one or two pages depending on your experience. If your resume is more than a page, be sure to include your name and email contact on subsequent pages and do your best early on to make sure the recruiter will want to read more!

http://trendpersonnel.com/en/news/item/124-the-only-resume-advice-you-ll-ever-need

Can a Sense of Humor Win over a Hiring Manager?

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CareerBuilder study, direct hire employees, Hiring, hiring dfw, how to ace an interview, influence a hiring manager’s decision, interview answers, jobs in dallas, jobs rockwall, qualified candidates, staffing dallas, trend personnel services, Win over a Hiring Manager

by Elaine Quayle

A new study looked beyond the typical attributes, like background, certifications, etc., and found that a sense of humor, an eye for fashion, or even knowledge of pop culture can influence a hiring manager’s decision.

The nationwide CareerBuilder study asked employers if they had two equally qualified candidates, which factors would make them more likely to consider one candidate over another.

Their responses included,:

• …with the better sense of humor—27 percent
• …who is involved in his or her community—26  percent
• …who is better dressed—22 percent
• …whom I have more in common with—21 percent
• …who is more physically fit—13 percent
• …who is more on top of current affairs and pop culture—8 percent
• …who is more involved in social media—7 percent
• …who is knowledgeable about sports—4 percent

The survey also asked managers for traits that would take an employee out of the running for a promotion. Top responses included, “Someone  who…”:

• …says, “That’s not my job”—71 percent
• …is often late—69 percent
• …has lied at work—68 percent
• …takes credit for other people’s work—64 percent
• …often leaves work early—55 percent
• …takes liberties with expenses charged back to the company—55 percent

http://trendpersonnel.com/index.php/en/news/item/116-can-a-sense-of-humor-win-over-a-hiring-manager