Before the modern digital age, recruiting efforts were focused on cultivating a workplace brand and shaping job postings around a target audience. Employers followed a path to success by simply identifying a specific candidate market and then establishing a workplace culture around that market. This is still a foolproof method for attracting the attention of well-matched candidates, but the resources available to recruiters are changing rapidly in the age of social media. Are your recruiters making the most of these new tools?

Using Social Media to Identify Your Target Audience

Before you put effort into expanding your online presence and shaping your workplace brand identity, you’ll need to make some decisions about the candidates you’d like to attract. Who exactly are you pursuing? Are your ideal candidates young people or mid-career professionals? Are they funny or serious? Relaxed or driven? Competitive or team players? What are their professional and personal goals? And what online resources do they rely on during the job search process?

Your social media campaign will ideally include a list of social media profiles, an active blog, and the inclusion of some video and multimedia content on your website. You’ll want to direct these brand builders to the right candidate population.

Using Social Media to Build Your Workplace Brand

Once you’ve isolated your target audience, you’ll need to take active steps to get in front of these candidates with brand identifiers that set you apart from competing employers. A successful workplace brand starts with a strong, consistent, and functional culture. It’s a hard to portray your workplace as fun and relaxed if the opposite is true. Keep an eye on your culture and maintain pressure in a positive direction. Then use your social media resources to present an image of your workplace that reflects your chosen brand. 

1. Start an active social media feed for each open position. Teams or departments with open positions should have Facebook or Twitter feeds that are updated on a regular basis in a tone consistent with your brand.

1. Each open position should also have a blog. This is less expensive and complex that it sounds. A simple blog can be started in minutes and maintained for free through Blogger or WordPress, and a link to the blog can be embedded in job postings, on the company website, and within social media profiles.

1. Keep blogs and profiles active with content like 1) day-in-the-life postings illustrating your company culture, 2) short videos of the hiring manager discussing the position, the workplace, and her own background, and 3) additional information about the company, industry news, and links to similar open positions.

For additional guidance with the recruiting process, contact the experts at Merritt and arrange a personal consultation.

When we head out the door on the way to a job interview, most of us know that we’re about to step into a stressful situation. We’re ready to control the things we can and let go of the things we can’t. We’re wearing strong deodorant, we have plenty of copies of our resume in hand, our timepieces are accurate, and the gas tanks of our cars are full.

But unfortunately, even the best preparation can’t protect some candidates from silly, preventable, interview-killing mistakes. Don’t become one of these candidates. If you’ve landed a promising job interview, congratulations! Now just avoid these simple blunders that often take place before applicants have a chance to close the deal.

Brain-Mouth Disengagement

A well-qualified, promising applicant can tank his chances entirely with one witless remark during an interview. If you tend to blurt things out when you get nervous, recognize this tendency and plan ahead. Try this tip: Pause for two full seconds (two Mississippis) before responding to any question, even a pleasant inquiry about the weather or your drive to the venue. A two second pause is short enough not to seem odd to your interviewer, but it’s long enough for you to take a full breath and assemble your thoughts before your mouth opens.

Dishonesty

While you’re pausing and counting out two full seconds, make sure that what you’re about to say is honest. Positive spin is one thing, but exaggeration and outright lies are another. If you’re asked about your experience, feel free to focus on accomplishments that are relevant to the position, even if you have to pick and choose among the things you’ve done. But don’t stretch the truth.

This also applies to anything you commit to writing in the form of an application or resume. It should go without saying, but never claim schools, degrees, positions or affiliations that aren’t real. And never “adjust” your dates of previous employment. These are easy lies for your employer to uncover, and the resulting humiliation isn’t worth the risk.

Underestimating the Value of Appearances

If you aren’t sure what to wear, opt for a simple grey suit in an updated style. Suits with either pants or skirts are almost always appropriate, no matter the position. If the workplace and venue are more relaxed, feel free to wear a simple, conservative shirt and tie with pressed trousers, or a neat blouse and skirt ensemble. In any case, err on the side of formality. And check carefully for loose threads and tiny stains before you leave the house. Neatness and attention to detail will show respect for both your interviewer and yourself.

Emphasizing Your Own Needs

Try not to focus on your own needs until you have an offer in hand. It’s true that an interview is a two- way street, and you’ll need to evaluate your potential employer just as she evaluates you. But don’t quiz her about salary, bonuses, parking, or perks until later. For now, make sure you emphasize all the contributions you’re ready to make to the business, rather than the benefits you intend to take away.

Contact the team at Merritt for specific questions about interview protocol and help with the job search process.

Once I sat in a quiet subway car with two friends, both orthopedic surgeons, who had just come away from a strange case, a patient who had sustained several fractures after falling from a five story building. My friends didn’t share the patient’s name of course, so I felt free to eavesdrop, and this conversation taught me more about the realities of surgery than all the hospital themed TV shows I had ever watched. I wondered if my job would ever sound that interesting to anyone.

Would anybody ever invite me to speak on Career Day after overhearing my conversations with my colleagues?  I raised the subject at my office, and everyone chimed in with a list of workplaces they’ve always wanted to spy on. Here are some of the most intriguing jobs we came up with:

Astronaut

What do conversations sound like on an international space station? After a long day, do astronauts talk about TV shows and sporting events while they float in zero gravity eating rehydrated ice cream? And during the busiest moments of the nine to five grind (what do those hours look like in space?) what kind of collegial chatter goes on up there?

Movie Director

If you’re a movie director, today you may need to blow up a building, and tomorrow you’ll need to bring a tyrannosaurus to life, pamper an unhappy star, or create the most subtle and complex feelings in your audience using a magical combination of lighting, acting cues, and effects. Movie directors talk shop just like the rest of us, but what does it sound like when they do? We would love to find out.

Bartender or Hairstylist

Bartenders and hairstylists have access to the most privileged information you’ll find anywhere. Some of us share tidbits with these two that we wouldn’t even discuss with a therapist or spouse. We’d like to drop in on that gossip and glean some insights into the complexities of human nature.

CIA Operative

Is the life of a CIA agent anything like it is in the movies? Anything at all? If we can’t eavesdrop on their conversations, how will we ever know if all those action sequences and high stakes capers are realistic?

Your Job

What about your job? What goes on in behind-the-scenes conversations between you and your colleagues? Here at Merritt, we love everything about the world of work. We love thinking about work, talking about jobs, studying employment statistics, and finding out what people do all day.  And we want to hear from you. Leave a comment below. And if you could use some employment-related advice, contact our office and find out how we can make your work life more fulfilling, fascinating and productive.

From the job seeker’s point of view, a job search can often seem like a one-way process. After all, if you’re the one applying for a position, then you’re the one under scrutiny. And you’re the one hoping to meet the expectations of hiring managers who may or may not like what they see when they look over your background.

But it’s in your best interest to keep the process moving in two directions. After all, you’ll be dedicating your skills, time, talent and resources to this organization. And beyond a paycheck, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting something back. How does the company measure up to YOUR expectations? On what criteria should you base your decision? And if it’s better to pass on an offer, how can you tell? Here are a few things to look for as you compare your options.

Like-Minded Coworkers and Mentor Access

How will you get along with the people who work here? Are you a match? It may not be easy to tell based on a single interview, but do your best to make an educated guess. If you’re a working parent and a team player, stop and think before you commit to a company full of hyper-competitive single people who stay at work till midnight, and vice versa.

The availability of mentors may also influence your decision. Great mentors can help you make connections and support your professional growth, but not all companies provide or encourage this model. 

Security

Where is this company headed three, five and ten years into the future? Is this a promising start-up or an established multi-national corporation? The answer may affect your sense of long term job security. If layoff rumors are likely to sweep through this place every few months, will you be able to adapt?

Room for Growth

If you enter this firm at a certain level, when will you be able to climb to the next rung of the ladder? Find out what your advancement options are and whether or not the company will support your progress. If there’s only one position above you and that person isn’t leaving any time soon, you’ll need to factor that into your long term plans.

A Comfortable Work Environment

Does this company share your values and your general approach to life? Will you be respected here, and will you respect your employers and the enterprise in general? Think carefully. Your quality of life depends on more than just a paycheck. There are few situations more rewarding than a job you love, surrounded by coworkers you respect, regardless of how much money you’re making. It’s the days, hours and minutes you spend here that will determine your future happiness or misery. So be honest with yourself. Feel free to turn the tables, ask questions, and put the employer under the microscope before you sign on. For additional advice and guidance with the job search process, talk to the experts at Merritt Staffing today.

Your website is the public face of your business, and depending on your industry, it may be the only thing customers take into account before making a buying decision. A company website can weigh heavily with potential employees as well. Chances are, unless your name is internationally known, talented job applicants will view your posting and then immediately visit your website. What they find there will determine their next move.

So how can a small business with a shoestring budget build a site that appeals to both customers and high quality job applicants? Here are a few quick tips.

Your Small Business Website: Appealing to Customers

We all know that a website should be clear, navigable, and visually attractive. So by all means, get rid of the confusing links and the ugly clutter. But once you’ve done that, what comes next? You may not have a degree in marketing or the budget to hire a professional digital marketing firm, but you do have your native wits and a deep understanding of your own business model. So try this thought exercise:

Say you sell furniture. Picture a customer clicking onto your site. Should the site convince him to buy furniture? Or should it convince him to buy furniture from you? Right now?

To answer this, you’ll need to understand your target audience. Determine which type of customer you specifically cater to—The shopper who already plans to buy something and has his wallet ready, or the browser who doesn’t know what she wants until she sees it. Once you’ve answered this question, make sure your shopper sees a professional, reliable furniture dealer he can trust. And make sure your browser sees beautiful images that invite her to settle into the elegant chase lounge in the sunny breakfast nook in the life she’s always wanted.

Your Small Business Website: Appealing to Job Seekers

To appeal to job seekers, apply the same principle. Understand your target audience. Or in this case, the kind of applicant you’d like to attract. Picture your ideal applicant in your mind. What is she looking for? Is she meticulous and intense? Or is she a laid-back free thinker? Is she outgoing or withdrawn? Innovative or by-the-book? 

Tailor your website to appeal to this imaginary applicant. If you want employees with a sense of humor, make sure your text and images stay on the lighter side. If you want employees who are driven and relentless, your website should convey this kind of workplace philosophy. 

To Appeal to Both Customers and Applicants

To get your message across to both applicants and customers, use every tool at your disposal. Each of the following aspects of your site should be chosen with care and attention:

The tone of all written content 
Fonts, motifs, and elements of design
Specific photos and imported images
Sounds and videos
Testimonials.

Review each of these items with your target audience in mind. The key to effective marketing is control, so be deliberate and make sure your site contains no accidents. Once your design is complete, stay open to change. Listen and respond to all visitor feedback. Contact Merritt Staffing for more small business tips and advice.

Companies often use a familiar shorthand to describe the experience required for a specific position. Sometimes these requirements are clear, for example: “2 to 5 years of agency experience a plus”. But often the terms of a posting are far more vague.  What does “entry-level” really mean? And can an entry level job at one company equate to an executive-level job at another? Most important, which of these jobs are for you?

Experience Requirements: Know When to Pounce and When to Move On

Experience-specific language is unregulated, so companies are legally free to name positions and express position requirements as they choose. But if you know how to interpret these terms, you’ll have a better understanding of which jobs to apply for and which ones to let go. Keep the following considerations in mind.

Entry Level

Entry level jobs usually don’t involve managing others, but they still tend to go to candidates who have at least a little bit of exposure to the field and a minimum level of education. Bear in mind that a mid-level or management position for a small company may equate to an entry level job at a larger firm.

Mid-Level or Mid-Career

Mid-level or mid-career positions can suggest almost anything. So if you feel like you know what you’re doing and have a portfolio or references that can help you make your case, don’t skip an opportunity to apply for a mid-level job that appeals to you. It’s at this ambiguous stage that many workers make the transition from managing only themselves to managing others. If you’ve never had a single direct report, you may still be considered mid-level by some hiring managers. And if you’ve led an entire office or run a small company, some employers may still consider you a mid-career candidate, depending on your age and the challenges you’ve faced.

Executive or Executive-Management

“Executive level” almost always suggests at least a few years of management experience. Before applying for an executive management job, be sure you know you how to speak the language of your industry fluently. Assemble a list of serious accomplishments that you can use to showcase your ability to lead others, handle substantial budgets, and make high stakes decisions.

Choosing Which Jobs to Pursue

Applying for a job outside of your standard experience bracket is completely acceptable. There’s no legal or social rule that forbids this. If you’ve only had a year in the field but feel ready to take on a higher level position, feel free to reach out. But remember: Hiring managers can only glean so much about your experience from a resume and interview. If you voluntarily take on more than you can handle, or accept a position that may under-challenge and bore you, you’ll have to navigate the consequences on your own. Think ahead, and be realistic about your skills, ambitions, and limitations. For more help with the job search process, contact Merritt and talk to an expert today.

The field of human resource management came into being exactly as its name suggests: As a body of professionals trained to help companies manage and optimize their human capital. An HR department traditionally polices a workplace, enforces established protocols, and extends the arm of executive influence in order to make sure worker-management relationships are legal, functional, and profitable.

Some parts of this role are inherently bureaucratic, and in a modern world, the nature of bureaucracy is shifting. This shift is taking place across almost every industry sector, and in keeping with these changes, HR managers are gradually taking on new roles and moving away from older ones. So what does the future hold for experienced HR mangers? And what will soon be expected of new recruits to the field?

Policing vs Partnership 

Modern human resource managers need to start thinking of themselves not just as regulation-enforcers, but as members of a team, with goals that reflect those of the larger organization. In order to thrive, companies need to internalize regulations and adhere to them both in letter and in spirit. But in order to support this effort, HR mangers need to factor long term business plans and company objectives into their overall mission.

Modern HR managers need to know how a company functions inside and out, so they can make sure human capital is deployed effectively. How team members contribute, and how they’re recruited, trained, coached, rewarded, evaluated and paid all fall under the modern HR manager’s purview. Individual employee success can equate to company success, but only if HR mangers have the deep knowledge and experience necessary to keep track of the big picture.  

Referee, Employee Advocate, and Change Driver

HR managers hold more responsibility than ever when it comes to controlling company direction and workplace culture. This can include dispute resolution, contract negotiation, job training, and any other initiatives that help employees gain the skills, motivation, and support they need to move the company forward.

This often means acting as an employee advocate, and it always means acting as a champion of effective communication. Many vital programs that were once handled by other entities now fall to human resource managers. These may include employee assistance programs, career development programs, profit sharing and benefits programs, and strategic planning initiatives.

HR mangers are also drivers of change. Every annual evaluation period calls for an assessment of employee growth and contributions, and each new collection of data means new opportunities to adjust strategies and further optimize productivity. If you’re working to find a valuable place for yourself in the new world of HR, adjusting to a shifting career landscape, or thinking of joining the HR management field, contact Merritt Staffing and arrange a consultation with our experts.

 
At the heart of every successful company, you’ll find warm, efficient HR mangers and experienced bosses who know how to get new employees off to a productive start during their first week. Work begins on day one, and so does an employee’s long term relationship with her new company. How you help her navigate the onboarding process can have a lasting impact on both sides of the equation.

Before you begin to focus on specific hires, make sure your company can provide an updated employee manual that contains all general policies and also specific, position related information. In a modern workplace, tasks are increasingly complex and personnel changes happen fast, so it’s becoming nearly impossible for all fundamental employee information to be transmitted by word of mouth. Have a manual ready that supports everything your new hire will be told during the first few days.

Once the new hire arrives, follow these guidelines for a smooth and positive integration period.

1. 
Have her supplies and work area ready and clean. Know exactly where she’ll be placed, make sure her computer is functioning properly, and make sure she knows who to contact for questions about facilities like the copier, phone, and fax machine.  

2. 
In addition to her employee manual and position-specific worksheets and databases, make sure she has a printed schedule for her entire first week on the job. Have scheduled times established for introductory meetings with all of her supervisors and coworkers, and if possible, schedule her participation in meetings related to the projects and accounts she’ll be working on.

3. 
Have all of her necessary new hire materials ready when she arrives. This may include any HR paperwork she hasn’t completed already. It may also include key cards, parking passes, and passwords to all the databases and accounts she’ll need to access in order to begin working. 

4. 
Take responsibility for all introductions. Personally walk the new employee around and introduce her to everyone she’ll be seeing or working with on a regular basis. Assign a manager or peer to invite her out to lunch. Don’t let her navigate first-day lunch plans on her own.

Every aspect of your onboarding process should encourage the new hire to feel warmly welcomed and part of the team. Before you turn a new employee over to her supervisor and coworkers, make sure she’s spent at least a small amount of scheduled time with each one of them. And even after the first few days have passed, stay approachable and maintain an open line of communication so she feels comfortable coming to you with questions or problems. For more onboarding help, contact Merritt and arrange a consultation with our staffing experts.

Your employees are paid by the hour and your scheduling practices are designed to accommodate the flexible requirements of your business. Most of the time, you have just enough people on site to finish what needs to be done by the time the shift changes or the day ends. Every now and then, an isolated incident carries the day into overtime, and until now, you’ve had the budget resources to reward the hard working employees who stay till the job is finished.

But what do you do when your labor needs almost, but not quite, outstrip the capabilities of your regular workforce? What happens when you have just enough work coming in to justify keeping employees after hours, but not quite enough to add a few new full time positions? Before you make a long term decision, take these important steps.

Put your math skills to work

How long will this high tide last? If the recent increase in work represents a sign of company growth, then congratulations. And remember that it takes money to make money. If the tide is only expected to rise, be optimistic and calculate the cost of genuine, sustained expansion in your enterprise. If this tide of extra work can’t be explained, or will likely recede when the busy season ends, calculate the cost of three weeks, five weeks, or six months of estimated overtime. In either case, gather the data you need to make an informed decision.

Look around

Listen carefully to your employees and take a close look at how your resources are currently being used. Are these overtime tasks really necessary? What skills are required for the positions that use the most overtime hours? Are these skills expensive, i.e., will hiring and training costs for a new position be significant? And finally, are there any unskilled tasks that your most expensive employees are spending time on during regular hours? Maybe you can create an inexpensive support position so your high-cost employees can focus on completing skill-specific tasks within standard shift periods.

Consider a short term plan

Schedule a meeting between hiring managers and HR staff to discuss the merits of a short term position. Determine the cost of staffing such a position and have your managers weigh the benefits and drawbacks. Their suggestions will likely depend on the training required for the position, the difficulty of recruiting applicants with necessary skills, and how willing potential candidates may be to accept a temp-to-per offer.

For additional guidance and help with common staffing issues, contact Merritt and arrange a consultation with our experts.

If most of us had to choose between a face-to-face interview and a phone screening, we’d probably consider the in-person interview a little more nerve-wracking. After all, real world interviews involve countless tiny details that can easily escape our control, from a loose thread on our hem to the beads of visible sweat we’d do anything to send into a parallel dimension. Phone conversations, by comparison, edit out every part of our persona that can’t be expressed through the voice. But does this actually make things easier? Or does it simply mean that all of our qualifications, our years of experience, our warmth, our manners, and our confidence all have to be conveyed somehow through a set of tiny speakers?

Yes and yes. Phone interviews are easier. But candidates still need to take the phone call seriously and get around, rather than hide behind, its limitations. Here’s how.

First, prepare. Expect the same tough questions you’d hear in a face-to-face interview. You probably won’t hear these questions, since most phone interviews are simple, general screenings designed to weed out obviously inappropriate candidates. But just in case, be ready. Know how to talk about your background, discuss your future goals, and address your potential weaknesses with confidence and grace. And feel free to write things down. The phone makes it easier for you to take notes and refer to them gracefully.

Second, remember that facial expressions won’t play a role. So your voice will need to tell the interviewer that you’re listening and engaged. Don’t sit down during the call. Stand up, and try not to pace. Smile as you greet the interviewer. A smile can be felt over the phone.

Finally, don’t be afraid of conversational pauses. Your listener can’t see your face, but you can’t see hers either, and this may exaggerate pauses and make them feel longer and more awkward than they actually are. Don’t be rattled. Take a breath and wait for a full second before you answer a question, just as you would in person. Your interviewer is in no hurry, and she’s interested in what you have to say.

For both phone and in-person interviews, try not to fidget, and as always, think before you speak. For additional interview tips and guidance with your job search, contact Merritt and talk to our employment experts.