Posts Tagged ‘New Hire’

4 Reasons Why You Should Add a Veteran to Your Team

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

Every November 11, we celebrate Veterans Day to honor and thank those who serve or have served in the US military. Veterans have sacrificed their lives to protect our country while giving up their time, moments spent with loved ones, and sometimes their physical and mental health. Although Veterans Day has passed, we can still celebrate our American Heroes. They are great at protecting our country and when they return from being away, they also make great employees. Let’s recognize the skills that these individuals possess. Here are four reasons why a veteran should be on your team:

Team Player

Veterans are trained to work in environments made up of teams. They know how to follow orders and when they should give them. Because they worked so closely with others during their military career, veterans take feedback well and are willing to help a coworker in need.

Accountable

Those who serve sacrifice their lives so we are protected and maintain our freedom. They take their job seriously and understand that they are responsible for the safety of their team and their country. They will use that same accountability to complete their projects and hit their goals for themselves and their employer.

Results Driven

People in the military will accept nothing but their best when carrying out a mission. They know that people are depending on them, so they don’t tolerate mediocre results. This mindset will not leave them when they’re working at your company. Expect great outcomes from a newly hired veteran.

Calm and Collected

Our service men and women are very familiar with situations of extreme pressure and danger. Because veterans are trained to handle tough moments and decisions with grace, their experiences will help you lead your company to success.

Let’s thank our Vets for their service and sacrifice, and let’s help them find jobs. If you have hired a veteran after Nov. 21, 2011 or plan to hire one before Dec. 31, 2012, you maybe be eligible for a tax credit. Find more info here: http://www.benefits.va.gov/VOW/.

Photo Source: US Army Africa

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5 Tips to Guarantee a Great New Hire

Thursday, October 11th, 2012

Having a successful business has a lot to do with who you hire. Not spending adequate time during the hiring process could have severe consequences on your workplace and its overall productivity. Avoid taking short cuts when reviewing candidates to add to your team. Choosing the wrong candidates can negatively affect your other employees, cost you more money than you expected and waste many of your team members’ time.

Here are five tips to keep in mind when looking for new talent:

Create an Accurate Job Description

Before you start to hunt for suitable candidates, be sure you know what duties and tasks the new hire will be responsible for. Carefully create your job description to clearly explain what the future employee will be doing. Making specific job descriptions will weed out the people who really don’t have the experience or desire to fulfill the position.

Develop Your Recruiting Plans and Goals

Make the recruiting process more efficient by assigning an interview team to prescreen the candidate to ensure he fits the requirements of your job description. This interview team will help you evaluate the interviewees and eventually help you decide who should be offered a job.

Define Your Ideal Candidate for the Job

Know the top traits you want to see in your future employee before you start interviewing candidates. While you’re conducting the interview, listen for the things the candidates say that match your top qualities. Finding people that align with your expectations will help you secure the right person for your open position.

Run a Background Check and Require a Skills Test

Background checks are the best way to guarantee your job candidates are who they say they are and have the experience they say they have. CAI can help your team run its background checks to avoid a bad hire. Contact Kevin von der Lippe at kevin.vonderlippe@capital.org.  Skills test are also important to run to make sure the candidate has the skills and knowledge to excel at the job. Writing, Microsoft Office and personality tests are common skills assessments to ask candidates to complete.

Request Recommendations and Check Them

Getting at least two recommendations that can vouch for your candidate’s past work history is important in reducing the chance of hiring a poor performer. After you conduct your interviews and narrow down your top choices, don’t skip this important step—you will save money and time.

Hiring the right candidate for your open position will positively affect your business performance, boost employee morale and solidify employer-employee relationships. So follow these five tips and stop wasting time, energy and money. For more hiring tips, please call a member of CAI’s Advice and Counsel Team at 919-878-9222 or 336-668-7746.

Photo Source: Victor1558

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Four Tips for Onboarding Success

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Starting a new job is overwhelming. Trying to perform your best and learn a load of information can be stressful. Help your new hires make a great start by preparing them with a strong onboarding process. Plan a schedule of action items  that will  get them familiar with your organization. Sharing company policies and resources available to all will help your new employee adjust well to their new position.

In addition to a thoroughly planned onboarding schedule, several personalized actions will show your new employee that you’re glad they joined your team. Implement some of the practices below when your new hire starts:

Start on Tuesday

Starting your new employee on your busiest work day will not allow you to spend the proper amount of time getting him acquainted with the organization. If your busiest day is Monday, start your employee on Tuesday or another day with a lighter work load. You can answer his questions, show him where supplies are and take some time to get to know him when you start your new hire on a less busy day.

Break Out the Welcome Wagon

Help your new employee settle into their new position by making them feel welcomed and part of the team. Stock their workspace with pens, notepads, a handbook and other materials that will ensure a successful start with the company. Let them know it’s okay to ask questions or to be confused. When a week goes by, check in with them to see how their first week went. If you can help them out with anything, make sure they know it.

Give Introductions

Trying to get things done without knowing who people are or where their office is can be frustrating for a new employee trying to give a good impression. Help her out by introducing her to members of your organization that she’ll be in direct contact with. Make sure she knows where different departments are and who she needs to reach out to for various tasks around the office.

Take Them Out

Show them you’re excited for them to be on your team. Take them out for lunch and ask the other members of your department to join. This is a great time to get to know one another. Ask your new employee how their first day is going. Also encourage them tell more about themselves, like what they like to do in their free time or what their favorite sports are.

For more tips for a great onboarding process, please call a member of CAI’s Advice and Counsel Team at 919-878-9222 or 336-668-7786.

Photo Source: Victor1558

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Choose Wisely to Avoid the Cost of a Bad Hire

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

There are several costs associated with hiring a new employee. Money is spent hiring a recruiter, advertising the new position, reimbursing travel expenses and training the new staff member. Not only are financial resources used, but employers spend an ample amount of time with job candidates and new hires. Time is spent interviewing, onboarding and educating the new team member. When considering all the effort invested in one employee, uncovering that she’s a bad hire can be devastating.

CareerBuilder’s recent survey on costs related to bad hires indicates that 65 percent of the participating US hiring managers said that their bad hiring decision cost their company $25,000 to $50,000. Financial losses are easy to spot, but bad hires can also lower productivity and impact their coworkers negatively. Although you can’t prevent a bad hire 100 percent of the time, you can take several steps to ensure a candidate is a good fit for your job opening. Use the tips below to avoid a poor hiring decision:

Know the Job

Do you know why you have a vacancy at your company, and why it hasn’t been filled yet? If your opening isn’t new, take some time to thoroughly understand the requirements and skills needed to fill the position. Review what made past employees successful in the position and what made them ultimately leave. If there wasn’t much success, evaluate what you can do to help reduce turnover.

Nail the Interview

Evaluate your company’s role and responsibility during the interview process. Do you have good interviewers that are excellent time keepers and make job candidates feel welcomed? Do you utilize interview questions that will paint a picture of what the candidate did at his previous job? Do you incorporate questions that will give the candidate different scenarios of what he can expect from his new job? Planning for well-thought-out behavioral interview questions is a must.

Check and then Double Check

Before setting a start date for your new employee, make sure all of your company’s pre-requisites for new hires are completed. Perform a background check to verify his employment and criminal history, call his references to confirm his past work performance and experience, and have him complete an assessment to further demonstrate job fit.

Following the three tips above should help you identify high-performing talent and avoid making a costly hiring mistake. CAI offers services to help you increase your chances of selecting a great hire. Contact Molly Hegeman at 919-878-9222 or http://j.mp/cai-a for more information about recruiting and assessments.  Contact Kevin von der Lippe at 336-668-7746 or www.capital.org/vea for questions regarding background checking and reference services.

Photo Source: hawken king

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New Hire Surveys: First Identify Your Goal

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

The common thread of motivation behind any employee survey is to gain effective feedback for recruitment and retention. With the proper analysis and actions taken as a result of what is learned, companies inevitably experience an increase in overall retention rates, benefiting employee morale and organizational expansion.

When it comes to new hire surveys, you want to be sure to identify your main goal before planning and developing the survey.  Here are some target goals and recommendations.

Target Goal – Evaluating the Hiring Process

If you want to evaluate the hiring process, you will want to survey your new hires relatively soon after they come on board, ideally within the first two weeks in most cases.  You will want to ask your new hires about the accuracy of information received while they were being recruited, how the organization was presented, their impression of the interview process and whether their direct supervisor met with them to discuss their career goals. Also, new hires are often asked for suggestions on improving the hiring process.

Target Goal – Evaluating the Onboarding Process

Proper onboarding is critical to the success of new employees, especially if you expect them to be productive relatively quickly.  These surveys should be most effective when conducted 30-45 days after an employee’s start date.  Topics discussed should include: did they receive the knowledge, resources and training needed to be productive in their job in a timely manner; whether their responsibilities and expectations were spelled out clearly; and whether they felt they were able to spend the time with their manager necessary to help them succeed.

Target Goal – Evaluating the Satisfaction of New Hires

If the goal is to analyze the growth and satisfaction of new hires, then employee evaluations should be administered 90 days after employment. Waiting approximately three months allows new staff members to become settled and confident in their position, fluid in their work process and comfortable with the day-to-day operations of the organization. At this point, the employee should be able to deliver healthy feedback regarding the challenges and strengths within company culture and management, as well as employee training, mentoring, and socialization.

All surveys should be conducted by either Human Resources or an independent third party rather than by direct supervisors to encourage honest feedback from employees. A “rated answer” response will allow the employer to aggregate the data and spot issues, while “open-ended” questions typically provide more details.  Supervisors should also be asked to complete a survey with respect to new hires. This survey will provide feedback on the quality of the recruiting and hiring process overall.

Where applicable, request that new hires note their department, division, gender and race on the survey. This will serve to uncover potential issues within a department and identify any discriminatory treatment during the onboarding process.

For more information or to discuss related issues to new hire surveys, please call a member of CAI’s Advice and Counsel team at (919) 878-9222 or (336) 668-7746.

Photo Source: Elvert Barnes

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