Candidate’s choosing the right recruiter is just as important as a company choosing the right firm. The company needs a firm that will listen to their needs, build a relationship with hiring managers and HR associates, and will communicate/give helpful feedback/status updates on searches and trends in the market.

Ultimately, companies need partners! And here’s WHY this partnership is important:

Save Time and Money! Let your staffing firm place the ad, review resumes, qualify the candidates, and schedule the interviews. Firms, such as CRi, already have the budget, ability and expertise to do it AL, so don’t spend your time, money and resources when we can do it for you!

Confidentiality! The world (or better yet, your competition) does not need to know that your company is starting a new division or adding new employees. Recruiting firms can find you the talent you need without releasing your company name and thereby providing you with a strategic advantage.

No Monetary Risk! Since fees aren’t paid until a placement is complete, there’s no monetary risk in working with a recruiting firm. Some companies falsely believe that for less money they can post a job listing on one of the big career websites and/or their own website and they will see them same results as with a recruiter. Unfortunately, most of the time, you’ll end up burning money, time and resources on ill-fitting candidates.

Better Candidate Pool! Recruiters have candidates that are not out on the social sites and job boards. They work with referrals and are able to find those passive candidates with the right talent. Several of our candidates work only with recruiters in hopes of landing just a position that’s right for them, their family and that matches their career goals.  

Networking! Recruiting firms usually know of, or have several ways to find, contacts anywhere and everywhere. At CRi, networking is our job and therefore we have several connections that others don’t.

Specialization! Choosing a recruiting firm that knows your industry results in the ability to source better more targeted talent. CRi can provide better insight into the market trends and will understand the role within your company and how it fits into the company as a whole.

The Aftermath! Recruiter’s jobs don’t end at the offer. Here at CRi, we continuously work with our candidates throughout the hiring process and check in regularly to get feedback from both client and candidate to ensure a win-win scenario.

As you can see, using a recruiting firm is not scary or risky, in fact, there are many, many benefits! Truth be told, partnering with the right recruiting firm to match the needs of your organization is the first step in gaining greater insight to the industry, remaining productive and profitable, and building successful teams within your organization. Don’t believe me? Check out the Inc. Magazine article, “These Days, Recruiters are Worth the Money.” Using a recruiting firm worked for Metal Mafia and it can work for your company too!

HUH?!!! What was that?!! Man, I might need to go back to school to understand that definition.

As a parent, I can tell you that my kids would probably like the first part of the definition, with a small addition: “the right to act, speak, do or think as one wants.”

There are times where my patience is sorely tried, as my children test  how far they can push their freedom. Yet, I know when I listen intently and validate their thoughts, I am promoting growth within, which will translate into being responsible adults with the ability to solve problems and contribute to the world at large. As I thought about my children and their quest for freedom, I realized a strong correlation existed between them and the journey employees take throughout their careers.

Sense of Freedom = Happy Employees
I believe that companies that promote a sense of freedom foster happy workplaces. Why? Creating an environment in which employees can suggest ideas, are heard and validated, and more importantly, where good ideas are acted upon, drives a happy and rewarding culture.

Many leaders will say they are good listeners, and that they “hear” their employees, but many fail to actually act on the ideas suggested.  The expression “put your money where your mouth is” says it best. If you want to develop a culture that promotes freedom in the workplace, enable your employee with ideas the freedom to express those ideas. To help open the lines of communication, design an innovation/idea program, implement it and promote it. Give your employees the freedom to make it their own. Create in them the ability to solve problems, leverage ideas and grow and, as a business,  you’ll reap the benefits in return.

However, listening is easy when you’re listening to good ideas. If you really want to stretch the freedom vibe in the company, listen intently when employees express opposing viewpoints or discuss reasons to do things differently. When a leader has an idea or policy challenged, how they react says a lot to their employees. If you listen intently, ask questions to clarify the thought, discuss openly and seriously take the idea under advisement, you create an environment where employees feel free to express ideas and thoughts. React by ridiculing the idea, dismissing the thought out of hand or making the employee feel stupid will undervalue your employees and communicate that you are all talk and no action.

As I stated at the onset, if your goal is to create an environment of freedom where employees can express ideas and thoughts, then you have to be willing to listen to the good… and the bad. So the next time your child challenges you on “why can’t I stay up late?” think of the training you are providing yourself as a leader and react accordingly. I promise you, learning how to react positively will promote a happy home and a happy workplace.

To learn more about leadership skills, be sure to read our leadership blog.

P.S. As it is now baseball season … Go Red Sox!

For instance, email is a very easy place to forget your manners. When a potential employer contacts you regarding a position via email, it likely contains general information about the position, such as location and how your skills appear to be a good match, but perhaps they didn’t mention the rate/salary or if relocation was provided. All too often I see responses back with nothing else other than “Rate???”. This is not a good indication of how you will fit into a culture, and will likely stop the conversation.

Assuming you make it past the first obstacle and you get an interview, remember to be nice to everyone! As far as you know the CEO of the company might be sitting down at the front desk for a moment because they need a pen and if you end up being barking at him or her because the parking really stinks, it will likely be a huge waste of time for all parties involved.

In addition, how you act towards everyone you meet really does set the tone for the rest of the interview and likely if something unsettling is said from the beginning, it will eventually be passed along to the decision makers. A simple please and thank you goes a long way and frankly gives all of those involved a glimpse at your character.

When it comes to finding that perfect job you need every advantage to distinguish yourself from the next person. Make sure you are remembered for being very polite and polished and not for crabbing to the receptionist that you couldn’t find parking and building numbers are hard to read.

Click here for some additional considerations for your interview process. 

And to see if any of our open IT positions match your job skills and to put your manners to the test, visit our careers page.

Watch this video to learn about opportunities in mobile and a few thoughts on how mobile has helped improve many businesses already.

A few facts:

• 70% of people sleep with their phone within reach.
• People are more likely to leave home without their wallet than their phone
• More people have access to mobile phones than toilets
• Mobile applications are even being used for education improvements

As Recruiters, we are in a service industry, where there really is no substitute for the good old telephone. There are times when e-mails are necessary, for documentation, for enforcing details, for reaching someone with important information whom you know cannot talk on the phone during the day, etc. I absolutely send my share of e-mails, nothing wrong with that. But I resolve to pick up the phone more in those situations where I have a choice, ‘should I send this person an e-mail, or should I just call them?’ I resolve to choose the phone, and there are several reasons why.

There is nothing like the phone for building a relationship with someone. Of course, a face to face visit is much better yet, but during the day, through the course of recruiting, you gain so much more by hearing a voice, having a back-and-forth dialog, asking a question and getting an immediate answer, or hearing a question and being able to give an answer. You can hear the tone of voice in a phone call; you cannot so much in an e-mail. You can pick up on a concern or hesitation; you know when you hit a hot button with someone. Whether it’s an initial call to a job seeker, a call to someone who is currently working for your organization, just a quick follow up question you have for someone, or even to deliver bad news about a job someone interviewed for. The phone is best. I am not surprised actually, when I call a candidate to deliver negative feedback, and that person tells me ‘I appreciate you calling and letting me know, most recruiters don’t do that.’ I can sure deliver that message by e-mail, but you definitely gain respect and strengthen a relationship with someone by calling to talk about it and having a dialogue.

I am certainly guilty of shooting someone an e-mail or sending a text message, in fact, there are many candidates or consultants who say they prefer e-mail, and certainly I try to respect those wishes. But if there is a question that needs to be asked, if a quick answer is needed, a call is best. How often do you send an e-mail to someone and within that e-mail, ask the person a number of questions, then when you receive a reply, only a portion of your questions were answered? Why not just call and get all those questions answered at once.

With the amount of e-mails that fly around, with many messages going into spam folders, and as quickly as a person’s inbox can get full and unmanageable, I can’t rely on e-mails to get my message through. I can’t take for granted that the recipient will see my message and take time to reply. Some job seekers see so many e-mails, they just don’t respond to them all. But if I call and can get that person on the phone, I start that relationship on the right foot.

So for the rest of 2013 and beyond, I resolve to make it my best practice to make that call rather than fall back on old, bad habits and sending the e-mails. It really should be common sense. For building a relationship, for getting your questions answered in a timely manner, for passing along information that is important to that other person, there’s no substitute for a phone conversation. I remember early on in my recruiting career, a colleague was showing me how to post an available career opportunity on a website and they suggested, not putting my phone number on the ad, because you get so many unwanted calls. “Just put the e-mail address and they can send in their resume.” Boy was that bad advice. I never turn down a conversation. Call Me Definitely 402-926-2000.

Reason 5: Playing like your life depends on it!

The Kings’ poor play during a majority of the season forced them into last place in their division. As a result, the final 6-weeks of the season was essentially a very long playoff for them. Their season’s survival literally depended on them winning nearly every game! Without an incredible streak of victories to close out the season, they were doomed to plan (or possibly hope) for a playoff run next season, instead of continuing the 2011 season. This crucible of pressure would have wilted many teams. Instead of wilting, the Kings started rolling… all the way to Lord Stanley!

The right leadership was instrumental in fostering an environment where the Kings could and would play like their lives depended on it. First, the team hired the right coach in Daryl Sutter. Dustin Brown, the team captain, was determined to finish out the season strong and decided to lead by example. Watching their leaders proceed with a focus on the playoffs, the team began to play with passion. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, they also added a few new parts via trade and call-ups. With the right pieces in place, they then decided as a group “that [they] were in a dogfight” and would raise their level of performance and play like their lives depended on it (because they did!).

As a leader, it is important to know when to “dial-up” the pressure on your team. Does your organization need a lift? Establish a competition by creating an “us versus them” (your competitors) scenario. Motivate your team by thinking and acting like an NHL coach and ask them, “Are we going to allow them to beat us?” Step-up expectations of the team and clearly communicate them, establish a reward for achieving them and then use your passion and drive to push the team. Communicate to them that their backs are against the wall, and then see how they raise their game. I am confident that with great leadership, your team will achieve its goal and their baseline level of performance will increase!

The Kings’ success depended on a variety of leadership lessons properly applied. I challenge you to use some of the five lessons we’ve discussed—leadership, the captain as the leader, consistency, trades and call-ups, and playing like your life depends on it—to raise your team’s level of performance!

While this concludes my series on the NHL and team performance, I am ready to get started on my next blog. I’m not sure what the topic will be just yet, but I will continue to try and provide engaging content that provides real value. Do you have a topic you’d like to see us discuss here in the blog? Let us know in the comment section!

Finally, to give credit where credit is due: Congratulations to the LA Kings!

Reason 4: Trades and call-ups

The Kings were going nowhere, and they were stuck at the bottom of division with little chance of making the playoffs. The team’s front office could have accepted this and written off the season as many franchises do. Instead, they decided to shake up the team to see if they could make a run at the playoffs. They traded for a veteran player, Jeff Carter, and called up two players from their AHL team, Jordan Nolan and Dwight King. Why did the addition of these players help the team so much?

These players allowed the Kings to play their forwards, who had been forced to play outside of their proper roles, as true forwards. Once the Kings forwards settled into their proper roles the Kings started to score goals… lots of them!

As leaders we should take a hard look at our team. Borrowing from Jim Collins and his book Good to Great, ask yourself, “Do I have the right players on the bus? Are they in the right seat (role)? Do I have someone on the bus that should not be?”

Effective leaders continually evaluate their teams. They evaluate to make sure they have the right players—in my case, only A players please ☺—in the right seat? They establish expectations. They identify their players’ (employees) strengths and then position them on the team for success (in the right seat). They establish expectations and then focus on getting their objectives met. The Kings did this when they focused on the “who” first (players) and the “what” second (the Stanley Cup).

Great leaders also know that adding pieces to their teams can provide energy and perspective. The Kings added a veteran and two minor league players. Each brought a different perspective. The veteran brought his experience and knowledge, the minor leaguers their energy and enthusiasm. What does your organization need? Does it need a veteran’s knowledge or the energy of youth? Effective leaders are not afraid to make changes to their teams to improve performance. The Kings added a mix of knowledge and youth, and the results energized the team!

The impact of adding a few players for the Kings was dramatic—it positioned them perfectly to win the biggest prize in hockey. What can moving a few players around your company do for you? Evaluate, add, reposition, subtract and see!

Review the first three posts in this series: “Want to Transform Your Team? First Hire a Leader!”, “The Leader MUST Lead!” and “Consistency is Key.” And, keep an eye on this blog for the series conclusion.

As always – Go Bruins!

In these blogs, I have been working through the five key reasons for the Kings’ turnaround, and demonstrating how you can use those to improve your organizations. In the first two blogs “Want to Transform Your Team? First Hire a Leader!” and “The Leader MUST Lead!” I addressed leadership and the captain as the leader, respectively. In this post, I am focusing on the third key reason for the Kings’ success: Consistency.

Reason 3: Consistency…

Effective leaders know that to excel, the team must consistently perform. Yet, consistency is something that the Kings struggled with over the first 2/3 of the season. Once Head Coach Daryl Sutter got his team focused and a few payers caught the vision; they collectively started playing with the consistency necessary to succeed. The result: they went from an average team to a contender! Similar to the Kings, leaders in any organization should understand three critical areas to help their team excel through consistency:

1. Communication. It is critical for leaders to communicate constantly and consistently around the messages that “matter” to their firms. Pick the three (3) most critical messages and focus on those. For example, at CRi we preach “Get it Great” or “GiG.” We aim to “Get it Great” for our clients, employees, consultants, vendors and each other. Our entire team focuses on “GiG”—from employees and colleagues to clients—otherwise our message would ring hollow. So, our messaging surrounding “GiG” focuses on the entire message, and we consistently communicate that message to our team. As a leader, find the message, determine a communication path and be relentless and consistent in the communication until the team has internalized the message!
2. Consistent Attitude and Behavior. Have you ever noticed how “on edge” your employees get when they are wondering “Who is in the office today?” Is it the “Happy” leader, “Mad” leader, “Sad” leader…. As your organizational leader, it is your obligation to exhibit consistent attitude and behaviors. At CRi, we often talk in terms of front stage (what our clients see) and backstage (what we do to support the client effort, unseen but critical). Leaders must remember that their attitude and behavior should always be handled in a front stage manner. Want positive, passionate, upbeat employees? Try being a leader who is consistently positive, passionate and upbeat. You will be amazed at the results!
3. Consistent Decision Making. Employees need to trust their leaders. To earn the trust of your employees, it is critical for you to make consistent decisions (even if they are not popular ones). Employees trust that when a decision is made, it is made via a constant framework. Is it good for the employee, good for the company, good for the client? Is it ethical, moral and fair? If, however, a leader’s decisions are arbitrary, then the employees have no foundation to stand on. They have no trust in the leader and subsequently none in the organization. Develop a decision-making framework and use it consistently.

Remember consistency in communication, attitude, behavior and decision making are foundational elements that build trust in you and throughout the organization!

Stay tuned for my next blog post, where I talk about another key element of the Kings’ victory that you can apply to your organization for continued success.

As always: Go Bruins!

In July I was fortunate to attend the SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The sessions were inspiring and I want to share the knowledge I gained in the next upcoming blogs.

One of the sessions I enjoyed the most was Engaged Leadership, The Leader side of Employer Engagement: Clint Swindall

• 29% of all employees are engaged
• 54% of all employees are disengaged
• 17% of all employees are actively disengaged

What can you do to create more engagement?
• Challenge #1- Let them know how they can contribute. Set expectations and goals on how they can help with the vision.
• Challenge #2 – Celebrate the small successes. Employees feel under appreciated if we don’t recognize the small achievements.

Personal Leadership
• Part of his philosophy is if you share the positive and avoid the negative it makes for a much more successful day. He uses the phrase “Tell me something good.” When a teammate would want to complain he would say “Tell me something good.” Each day make a commitment to be positive and it will quickly change the culture!
• Another philosophy he believes in is to “Stop being right all the time” If you are right all the time then the others are losers.

At the SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA I was able to see the great Jim Collins. His session was invigorating and made you feel you could accomplish it all! He spoke about Greatness being a matter of conscious choice. The greatest factor to leadership is humility – you should aspire to be the dumbest person in the room to ask questions and listen and learn.

Jim spoke about the attributes of successful people and companies:
• Share core values – hire people with similar values of the company and the leadership
• The Right people do not need to be tightly managed
• The Right people understand they don’t have a job but have responsibility
• Right people do what they say they will do
• Right people display window of maturity
• Right people are right with personal integrity

The Team is only as strong as the weakest member and is this team you are willing to be stranded with?

Jim focused on the team and focus points to ensure you have the right team, such as:
• Commit to build greatness of the team
• Get the right people in key seats within your organization
• Banish the job and replace with responsiveness
• Set BHAG(Big Hairy Audious Goals) with your team and work to accomplish those goals and continually measure
• Commit to a serious initiative to accomplish the BHAG!
• Start a “Stop doing” list – if you have more than 3 priorities on your plate at one time you are distracted and difficult to have disciplined thoughts
• Get a high return on luck event( we all have lucky things happen – capitalize on those situations and give back)
• Become a luck of event for a young leader – BE A MENTOR
• Commit to challenge young leaders

Be passionate about what you do! Make contributions of value! Do some self- actualization and work on the things you can to make a life of excellence! Quit worrying about being successful and think about how you can be useful. And lastly Jim encourages us to get involved in something you feel passionate about and will bring meaning to your personal and work life!

Jim’s session was very motivating and things we all know. It’s nice to go back to the basics on team building and personal leadership!

While at the SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta, GA I was able to sit in on a social media session “Convergence of Video, Mobile and Social Media in Recruiting and Employer Branding” by Lindsay Stanton.
This information was very informative and interesting how much technology is changing how we search for jobs!

All candidates start their search on Google. As candidates are seeking jobs they have found that a candidate will retain information 60% longer with a video embedded in their website. Video embedded in a website will actually bring your website search engine optimization up 53% higher in a Google search as well. Candidates are much more likely to click on the link for video as well, compared to only reading text.

86% of all people are doing social networking
4 out of 10 people have over 150 friends/people they network with
1 out of 6 people have found jobs through social networking. Leverage your internal employees to continue to bring referrals into your company!

To be effective in this tightening of the labor market companies need to start using social media to attract top talent!

It’s through this relationship building process that we really get to know people. The more I know about what would be ideal, what caused them to take a look or post their resume in the first place, about how they got where they are and where they’d really like to go, the better job I can do of keeping an eye out for suitable opportunities. And through our ongoing experiences of discussing job opportunities, submitting the candidate and having them interview and then sometimes not being selected, the better we both get at knowing what works and what doesn’t, what’s attractive to them and what isn’t, how their skills line up with others, where they are weak and where they are most strong.

Not every hire is someone I’ve met in the last month or even 6 months. I work with lots of candidates that I’ve had a relationship with for years. We have just been waiting for the right kind of opportunity to come along. We both reach a comfort level, I know the kinds of things they want to know about and they know I understand what they’re seeking. We may have tried and missed before, but we trust each other and can be honest about why something will work or why it may not.

It is a ton of fun to meet someone and get them to work on something new in the same week. But there is another type of satisfaction that comes with becoming aware of an opportunity and knowing just who would be perfect for it. It wasn’t right then, but it’s right now.