The intern relationship can be win-win for everyone. But only if you handle this delicate arrangement properly. If you approach internships with the wrong expectations, you might end up with headaches, or worse.

Selecting the Best Interns

If you’ve decided an intern is right for you, contact local schools and colleges and see what programs they have available that can connect students with employers. Let the school help with the screening process, but make sure you complete your own due diligence as well. Review resumes carefully and conduct thoughtful interviews just as you would with a full time applicant. (Do NOT ask for passwords or social media profile access). During the interview stage, it’s okay to be a little gruff with potential interns or overstate the challenges of the position, almost to the point of driving them away, since this can test their level of determination without causing any harm. 

Your Internship: Paid or Unpaid?

To avoid any potential risk of misunderstandings, and to protect your reputation and yourself, both legally and ethically, pay your interns. You don’t have to break your hiring budget, but even a small stipend sends the message that you value your employees and you take your business seriously.  

If you can’t afford even a stipend or minimum wage, make this clear upfront, and recognize that you may have difficulty retaining interns who are drawn away by other offers or more pressing responsibilities. On both sides of the relationship, payment adds dignity and a sense of obligation, and it can lend weight to your instructions and expectations.  

The Care and Feeding of Interns

Be very clear about what you expect your intern to do. If you overtask him or her, be prepared to clean up a mess later, which can be costly and time consuming. At the same time, taking a calculated risk and challenging an intern can have a huge payoff if she succeeds and gains confidence.

Above all, remember that interns are young and have limited experience with the working world. So it’s up to you to keep every aspect of the relationship healthy and positive.  Don’t expect your intern to call the shots or recognize when something is off base. And no matter how enthusiastic and obedient he may seem, be careful not to take advantage of this and become exploitative.  Just because you have eager interns lining up at the door doesn’t mean you have free rein to become disrespectful, hyper-critical or overly demanding. Take responsibility for the intern’s destiny as well as your own, and make sure she’s getting what she needs from the experience, just as you are.

For more help finding interns, keeping them, and making the most of an internship agreement, contact the staffing experts at Merritt and arrange a consultation.

Every once in a while, one of the screeners will say “Hey, listen to this one,” and share a clunky sentence or humorous resume misstep with the others, who will laugh at the poor applicant’s expense. The mood in the room is lighthearted but also urgent, since the position needs to be filled by the end of the month.

Then one of the screeners holds up the resume in her hands. “Wow,” she says. “Just wow.” The others listen as she reads a few lines aloud and then passes the resume around.  Within a few minutes, the other managers have all had a chance to glance over it, and without another word, it’s placed carefully to the side. “Well, that’s it,” says the hiring manager. “I think one of our positions has just been filled.”

They still have one more position to staff and a stack of fifty more resumes to review. Yours is somewhere in the stack. Will it get the same response?

How to Be the Candidate Employers Love

If you want to be the candidate at the center of unanimous, enthusiastic agreement, make sure your resume contains these key elements.

1. Include a summary, not an objective.

Objectives are out. Instead, head the resume with a very short paragraph summarizing the rest of the content, in other words, summarizing you. Condense your unique self and everything you have to offer into three compelling, readable sentences.

2. Give a real sense of what you’ve done.

Be honest. Be clear. And for pity’s sake, drop the buzzwords. After each job title you’ve held, write a short description of what you actually did. Then insert a few bullet points listing your key accomplishments. Try to attach a number to each accomplishment, as in “reduced customer complaints by 40%”.  But let your history speak for itself. Too much spin suggests you have something to overinflate or hide.

3. Emphasize the story.

Everyone in the resume stack has something to offer, everyone has a degree (if a degree requirement was specified in the job posting), and everyone has basic familiarity with the field. They all know how to show up on time. They all know how to meet deadlines. And they’re all “leaders” and “team players”. But you have something they don’t have. Find it, and make sure it’s woven throughout the resume like a theme.

4. Don’t be careless.

Of course your resume should be typo-free. But this is only because typos suggest a larger underlying problem– that of a candidate who goes through the motions, feels entitled to a job, and doesn’t expect to be scrutinized or held to a higher standard. Typos say: “I can’t be bothered to take this seriously,” which is a death knell for a resume. Make sure your resume is not only typo-free, but comes across as a thoughtful and meticulous work of art.

The staffing experts at Merritt are pros when it comes to drafting and editing resumes. We know exactly what employers are looking for, and we can help you polish your resume to an irresistible shine. Contact us today and get the job search guidance you need.

What’s going on? Summer in the workplace, that’s what. A beautiful season for life, fun, family, friends and fresh air. But not such a beautiful season for bottom lines.

When the summer starts rolling in and you have a business to run, your valuable human capital starts to seem a little less valuable. Daydreams set in, lunch hours get longer, and vacation schedules don’t always coordinate with company needs. So what can you do to keep your team engaged and focused between now and September? Try these helpful tips.

Keep Employees Focused During the Summer Months

1. Pick your battles. Don’t try to win every single warm weather-related conflict. If you really feel that sandals represent a serious dress code violation and undermine productivity, take action. But be realistic and be willing to let some things slide.  At the same time, when you’ve chosen to crack down on a certain issue, stand firm.

2. Control vacation schedules. Make sure you have a protocol in place for requesting time off and make sure your employees understand and follow it. Don’t let the stress of managing overlapping vacations get the best of you, and don’t let it compromise your commitment to your clients and customers.

3. Anticipate trouble ahead of time. If you know that a popular baseball game will happen next Friday and you suspect that many employees intend to leave early, put a plan in place to make sure the work gets done. Announce your plan to your employees well before the afternoon of the big game.

4. Make use of your mobile resources. The magic of modern technology allows us to stay in touch with employees when they’re on the go. So don’t just ignore that phone or Blackberry. Pick it up and reach out. Everyone in the office—including you—can get more done when communication and file sharing happen from anywhere.

5. Recognize that in the long run, employees who feel respected and trusted will work harder, care more, and demonstrate greater loyalty than those who feel oppressed or treated like children. Rein in the urge to become a dictator, and give your employees enough time to balance work and life. If you do this, they’ll pay you back by being better adjusted, better able to make commitments on their own terms, and more likely to think about work when they aren’t physically in the office.
For more help with staffing, retention and talent management, talk to the experts at Merritt. We can help you keep your company goals on track no matter the season.

Career counselors and parents supported the idea, and many unpaid internships were considered prestigious even if they came with high demands and didn’t pay a dime. Those were the old days.

In today’s recession-weary and somewhat more sophisticated world, the idea of a big bank or corporation “hiring” an eager, obedient young worker in exchange for nothing but the promise of prestige seems dysfunctional at best, and at worst, exploitative or even illegal. There’s nothing wrong with approaching an unpaid internship for a wealthy company with a degree of suspicion. If a company can afford to pay you but refuses to do so, they don’t deserve your time.

But what about a company that genuinely can’t afford to pay you? When it comes to accepting a summer internship, can a company’s business model and financial circumstances make a difference?

Should You Pursue a Summer Internship?

Yes, they can. Feel free to pursue an unpaid internship with a company if you support its larger mission, and it would have to divert funds away from that mission in order to compensate you. If you’re looking to build your event-planning experience, volunteering to organize fund drives and spaghetti dinners for the Red Cross can get you the experience you need without wasting your time, compromising your principles, or allowing yourself to be exploited. 

If you’re into flowers and horticulture, go ahead and spend the summer working for free in your neighbor’s florist shop. If you’re considering a medical profession but would like to spend some time in a hospital environment before you decide, volunteer at a local clinic. When you come away from experiences like these, you’ll have a better understanding of the realities of your chosen career. And your hard work will have benefited an organization that genuinely needs your help and/or stands for something you believe in. Prestige or no prestige, an internship like this is worthwhile.

If you’ve weighed the pros and cons and have decided you’re willing to accept the alternate version—an unpaid summer with a brokerage, law firm, publishing house, or corporation—try to maintain control over your hours and days. Know exactly what you’d like to learn from the experience, and if you aren’t being exposed to your area of interest, be firm and walk away. Don’t be pushed into a corner organizing file drawers in the basement when you’d rather spend the day in the marketing department.

And if your goal is to impress future employers, remember: A summer spent immersed in a field you love, in firm control of your own destiny, suggests enterprise and selflessness. A summer spent in a miserable or demeaning position with an employer who refused to pay you suggests something else. Hiring managers can tell the difference.

For more guidance with the job search process, finding a quality internship, or keeping your career on track, contact the staffing pros at Merritt and arrange a consultation.

1. Types of Interviewers: The Friendly Interviewer

The friendly interviewer greets you with a warm handshake, makes you feel welcome and respected, and is perfectly comfortable with off-topic chit chat. Around people like this, we tend to open up and set aside our inhibitions. This is great, since honesty and openness contribute to a meaningful interview on both sides of the table. But just remember: your levels of disclosure are not equal. And though this interviewer is happy to draw you out, he’s not here to be your friend. He’s here to serve the company. So relax, but not too much. Enjoy your conversation, but continue to think carefully before you speak.

2. Types of Interviewers: The Stickler

The stickler is less likely to wander off-topic, and an interview with her may seem more like an oral exam. She conducts interviews by-the-book, in exact accordance with protocol. When you encounter the stickler, don’t qualify your answers too much, don’t get too chummy, and don’t become flustered if she drives the conversation forward in a robotic way. She has a task to do and she’s just trying to do it correctly. Help her by answering her questions as clearly, directly, and completely as you can.

3. Types of Interviewers: The Specific Searcher

The specific searcher gives the impression that she’s looking for something, and it’s not something she’s likely to state upfront. There’s not much you can do about this one. She may be looking for a clone of the person who held the position before you, or she may be scanning your answers for keywords and red flags. Just relax and be honest. If you’re a leader, don’t pretend to be a follower because you sense that’s what she wants. By the same token, don’t pretend to be competitive if you’re a team player, and don’t sell yourself as the unstructured type if you thrive in a structured, organized workplace. Just be yourself. Trying to second guess her intentions will only cause confusion for both of you.

4. Types of Interviewers: The Questionable Future Employer (aka the Jerk)

Does your interview feel like an interrogation? Does the interviewer try to fluster, anger, or intimidate you? Does he accuse you of misstating your credentials, or ask you to list and describe your weaknesses? Does he ask silly, demeaning questions designed to test your “sense of humor”? If your conversation seems to be following this pattern, something’s wrong. Feel free to stay for the duration of the interview if you like, but re-examine your interest in the position. Is this really a person you’d like to work with every day? Remember, an interview is a two sided interaction. Follow your instincts, and don’t commit to a job that doesn’t feel right.

For more help with interview preparation and the job search process in general, reach out to the staffing experts at Merritt.

In recent years, things have changed. The availability of online information has allowed candidates to become far more savvy about which companies they pursue and which job offers they accept. To stay ahead in the race for talent, make sure you maintain strong control over your workplace brand. And make sure your recruiting efforts stay positive, tightly-targeted, and appealing to your core candidate audience. Here are a few considerations to keep in mind as you shape your brand and protect your reputation.

Understand How Information Travels

The most talented candidates don’t have to settle, even during a bleak economy. Just because you reach out to them via your targeted posting doesn’t mean they’ll apply, and just because you make an offer doesn’t mean they’ll accept. Confident, savvy candidates look before they leap. This means they’ll run an online search of your company’s name and they’ll read at least the first three or four results they find before they make contact. Once they’re more invested in the application process, they may also search for the names of your managers and top executives.

Sites like JobVent, JobBite and GlassDoor often appear in these searches. These are forums where current and former employees can post anonymous reviews of a company’s workplace culture. Reviews on these sites can have a strong impact on the decision making process of a talented candidate, so you need to know they’re out there and you should probably know what they have to say.

Control Your Brand at the Source

Both prospective and current employees can easily keep track of online gossip and issues related to your company’s reputation. And once a few negative remarks appear in the public sphere, it can be very hard to limit their effects. Bad press can rapidly be reposted to multiple sites, and not all of these outlets can be contacted or influenced. So make sure you control your brand at the source. Regardless of what’s being said online, is your company a fair and honest employer or isn’t it? Are your compensation decisions appropriate and aboveboard? Do you treat your employees with respect? Do you cultivate their skills and invest in their careers? Do you work hard to protect their job security? Do you extend respect to your customers, your partners, and the larger community?

If you don’t care about these things, be careful. Your reputation is at stake and you’re more exposed than you may realize. If you intend to compete for top talent, you’ll need to generate some positive press to compensate for the negative, or you’ll need to make some core decisions and re-evaluate your approach to the recruitment process.

For help navigating the complex landscape of workplace brand management, contact the staffing experts at Merritt and arrange a consultation.

Sometimes younger workers demonstrate common characteristics regardless of their era, and like all young employees, millennials are known for their energy, naiveté, and optimism. But there are a few trends that seem to set this crop of young workers apart from the rest. Recognizing these patterns can help managers better understand what drives millenials, which can help companies effectively coach, develop, and retain them.

The Facebook Generation: Where Do Millennials Work?

Millennial workers are comparatively well educated, and most of them are aware of this and proud of it. According to the Pew Research Center, 69 percent of them already have or are working toward college degrees. But like all generations of young workers, their jobs don’t often require degrees. While they’re still in school or just after they graduate, a large number of millennials hold non-degree positions in retail, hospitality and food service. So they know what it’s like to work hard in low-paying manual positions, often because they’re still doing it.

Facebook Generation: Ambitious (In Ways We Sometimes Weren’t)

Millennial workers list technology, education and finance among their top ten preferred fields. But they’re drawn to fun and flexibility, which means they don’t always enjoy the rigidity of traditional corporate workplaces. Many millennials navigate this by taking their skills in an entrepreneurial direction after they graduate from college. A disproportionately high number of them steer clear of Fortune Five Hundred employers and place their focus on starting small businesses. They want to own their own enterprises and are often unafraid of the requisite risk.

Millennials: The First Generation to Truly Mix Their Personal and Professional Lives

Facebook can be a business tool as well as a toy, and many millenials are finding ways to turn social media to their advantage at work. But even when they aren’t using Facebook to build client contacts or stay in touch with their teams, they still spend time on it during working hours. Wise managers recognize this and find ways to ensure that employees, while staying connected, are making the best use of company time.

For more practical management tips and insights into the millennial generation, contact the staffing experts at Merritt. We can help you find ways to coach younger workers, channel their energy, and offer them the support they need without losing focus on your company’s long term goals.

As you consider adding each of these apps to your job search tool box, try to stay focused on your long term goals and don’t get distracted. Your mobile apps should be supporting your search process, not getting in your way or taking up valuable time that you’d otherwise be spending in face-to-face meetings with your contacts. With that in mind, consider downloading free resources like these:

Mobile versions of job boards and networking sites

Monster.com, Careerbuilder, Indeed.com, and several other popular, widely-used job boards are now offering mobile versions of their job search tools for job seekers on the go. LinkedIn and Facebook are also available anywhere; keep them with you throughout the day if your job hunt relies on your social network. Just download them to your iPhone or Android phone for free. 

Twitter and social media dashboards

Twitter can also be easily downloaded to your mobile device, and so can Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, which can help you monitor multiple social media feeds at the same time.

Apps that can help you manage contacts and arrange in-person meetings

Lunchmeet, which is free for the iPhone, can help you arrange meetings with potential employers or helpful contacts while on the go. Simply enter your current location and tell the app who you’re planning to meet (a friend? A former boss? A colleague or classmate?) The app will scan the area and help you find a suitable dining venue. If you’d like to go out for lunch but haven’t made specific plans with anyone, the app can connect you to other job seekers in the immediate area who might want to meet up, exchange contact information and compare notes. You can access the Lunchmeet tool through your LinkedIn account.

Some apps like the Blackberry Card Reader (which is not free at $9.99) can scan the business cards that you collect at lunches and networking events and then transfer that information to your contacts list.

Apps for document management

Job seekers often need to access important documents, spreadsheets and Word files while they’re out and about. Try Documents to Go, a free Android app that can help you store your vital job search materials in the cloud and access them from the anywhere. With this app in place, your resume, biographical info, spreadsheets and presentation materials are always just a click away.

For more information about mobile apps and other helpful job search tools, contact Merritt and make an appointment with one of our staffing experts.

Job descriptions should be multifunctional. If a question ever arises about how to word a posting, how to review an employee, or how to determine if it’s time for a change to either the position or the employee who occupies it, the first step should involve reaching for the file that holds the job description. A great description can (and should) be referenced often for all kinds of reasons.

In addition to being multifunctional, great job descriptions should be clear, unambiguous, and legal.

Elements of a First Rate Job Description

Required Skills

This part of the job description will help hiring managers as they staff the position, especially if this is happening for the first time. In this section, List the knowledge and skills that the position will require, beginning with the skills that are indispensable, followed by those that are optional or will be used only occasionally.

Stay brief and focused. Instead of listing twenty different clerical tasks and corresponding software programs, it might suffice to say “working/ expert knowledge of the entire Microsoft office suite, specifically Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.” Instead of listing every aspect of interpersonal communication, list “the ability to network and build new accounts by engaging socially with clients,” or “The ability to manage a large team with different working styles and frequently conflicting goals.”

How the Job is Actually Performed

In this section, describe the function of the job within the larger company. If this employee will face a broad, overarching task that supports the enterprise as a whole, discuss that task here. For example: “Employee will support the International Business Development team in the effort to build client contacts overseas,”  or “employee will assist the General Manager with daily tasks related to staff scheduling,” or “employee will review all outgoing mass communication materials for tone, content, grammar and accuracy.” 

This section will also briefly describe how these tasks are carried out. If the material to be reviewed will come in from the Communications Department and will be handed off to the Printing Department when complete, include that information here.   

How the Employee Will be Evaluated

This section will help prevent potential conflict and confusion during the annual performance review process. It can also help mangers determine when employees are ready for promotions and pay raises, and it can guide mentors as they work to understand mentee strengths and areas in need of improvement.

All aspects of a good job description should be in compliance with legal guidelines; otherwise they may expose a company to lawsuits and accusations of discrimination or employee mismanagement. If you aren’t sure you understand the legal implications of a given job description, talk to an attorney before staffing the position. 

For additional help with staffing, hiring, or general HR guidelines, contact the team of experts at Merritt and arrange a consultation.

But what if there’s more out there than just this? What if we put a little extra effort into getting our name in lights, so to speak, and raking in a whole new set of opportunities for money, praise, and advancement? What could go wrong? What could go right? Maybe it’s time to find out. 

Personal and Professional Marketing: Elevate Your Strategy

People live in the real world, but they also spend an increasing amount of their time online. To market yourself properly, you’ll need to shine in both elements. Consider your online persona. Do you Google yourself on a regular basis? If not, it’s time to start. Control your digital personality, and if you don’t have one, get one. Blogs and websites are inexpensive to build and easy to maintain. Once you have both, make sure your social media profiles are active and contain links to back to your site, your blog, and any other existing forms of positive press about you.

Make sure that as you toil away at your daily tasks, your marketing campaigns are out there working for you and helping you shine. Your social media profiles, search engine results and real-world buzz should stay both positive and active. People should always know where to find you. And when they come looking, make sure you’re there to welcome them, answer their questions, and respond to their messages. Return phone calls. Even when it doesn’t seem to matter. And keep your public face public; that means welcoming, warm, accessible, competent and cheerful. All the time.

Keep Your Head Up and Go Where the Jobs Are

Opportunity doesn’t just come to those who work hard. In fact, she often skips right past the hardest workers whose shoulders are hunched over their desks. Hard work is an indispensable part of any long term plan, for sure, but while we’re throwing ourselves into absorbing tasks day after day, it’s a good idea to stay awake and tuned into the larger world. Sometimes when opportunity knocks, it does so very quietly.

While you’re staying tuned in, try to stand where lightning is most likely to strike. If you want an opportunity badly, surround yourself with people who can help you. Spend time with them. Position yourself, literally, in rooms where the odds are in your favor.

Details Matter (Especially When it Comes to Words)

Try not to be photographed holding an alcoholic beverage. Smile genuinely. Look for the good in people: doing so will enlarge your eyes and soften the lines in your face. Stand up straight. Under-promise so you can over-deliver. And most important, don’t just say things. Your mouth is your full time PR representative, and when she speaks, people listen. Don’t ramble, make idle remarks, give insincere compliments, or expect your comments to be ignored. Images have meaning and power, and words have even more; If you respect the things you say (and write), other people will too.

Reach out to the employment experts at Merritt for more guidance with the self-marketing process and tips on how to build your personal brand.