Tip #275: 5 Helpful Hints For After You Get That New Job

2009 was a rough year for a lot of people; many jobs were lost, and as a result, people looked to 2010 as a year of rebirth. Fortunately, for many of these people, 2010 has already been a better a year. We have heard quite a few success stories about new job opportunities - and it is only February.
We Are Dedicating This Week's Tip To Brand New Employees.

Like any new venture, being hired is both exciting and difficult. With this in mind, we prepared the following five tips for any new employee:

5 Helpful Hints For Any New Employee.

1. Make Sure You Remember Names - One of the best ways to make a great impression during your first week is to commit as many names to memory as you can. This is something salespeople have right. Part of getting up to speed your first week is synchronizing with the team you will be working with, and there is no better way to do this than by learning their names.
2. Do Not Be Overly Aggressive - While showing initiative can be a great way to be noticed, for many new employees it is better to spend more time listening than giving advice, especially during staff meetings. If asked for your opinion, do not hesitate to give it. Like anything new, it is better to lay low and soak up as much information as you can before being too vocal.
3. Learn The Landscape Of How Business Is Done - One of the fastest ways to get off on the wrong foot is to step on any toes your first week. If you can, get a copy of the company's organizational chart and commit it to memory. This will help you learn where and who to report to for your various needs. The faster you integrate yourself into a company the sooner you secure your new employment.
4. Strive To Be Likable - This sounds easy - and for some it is - but for others, striking the right balance between being likable and coming off as too aggressive can be difficult. Do shoot a friendly hello to everyone you pass by. Do not engage in conversation as though you have known the other employees your entire life. Exercise some reservation. People need time to get to know you, to build a rapport, before diving into deeper discussion.
5. Offer To Help Out Where You Can - Offering help is a great way to follow through on several of the tips above at once. If your particular skills can be leveraged to aid a coworker, go for it. This is the perfect opportunity to meet someone and learn their name, reveal yourself as likable and learn about your workplace's landscape.
   

One Last Thing....
I can tell you from personal experience how hard it is to get into rhythm at a new work place. On the one hand, there is the desire for many to excel at their performance. But if you want to get into rhythm, you need to learn the rhythm. And that requires listening and being observant when you are just starting off.

Summary: While most of this advice is common sense, new employees all too often disregard these guidelines and get carried away trying to impress or dazzle their coworkers and new employers. Approach new employment with that classic writer's warning, "show, don't tell." In other words, let your actions as an employee speak for themselves. If you act like a great employee, you will be acknowledged and treated as one.

For more information please visit our website!

E-Tip 275- 5 Helpful Hints For After You Get That New Job

We Are Dedicating This Week's Tip To Brand New Employees.

Like any new venture, being hired is both exciting and difficult. With this in mind, we prepared the following five tips for any new employee:

5 Helpful Hints For Any New Employee.

1. Make Sure You Remember Names - One of the best ways to make a great impression during your first week is to commit as many names to memory as you can. This is something salespeople have right. Part of getting up to speed your first week is synchronizing with the team you will be working with, and there is no better way to do this than by learning their names.
2. Do Not Be Overly Aggressive - While showing initiative can be a great way to be noticed, for many new employees it is better to spend more time listening than giving advice, especially during staff meetings. If asked for your opinion, do not hesitate to give it. Like anything new, it is better to lay low and soak up as much information as you can before being too vocal.
3. Learn The Landscape Of How Business Is Done - One of the fastest ways to get off on the wrong foot is to step on any toes your first week. If you can, get a copy of the company's organizational chart and commit it to memory. This will help you learn where and who to report to for your various needs. The faster you integrate yourself into a company the sooner you secure your new employment.
4. Strive To Be Likable - This sounds easy - and for some it is - but for others, striking the right balance between being likable and coming off as too aggressive can be difficult. Do shoot a friendly hello to everyone you pass by. Do not engage in conversation as though you have known the other employees your entire life. Exercise some reservation. People need time to get to know you, to build a rapport, before diving into deeper discussion.
5. Offer To Help Out Where You Can - Offering help is a great way to follow through on several of the tips above at once. If your particular skills can be leveraged to aid a coworker, go for it. This is the perfect opportunity to meet someone and learn their name, reveal yourself as likable and learn about your workplace's landscape.

One Last Thing...

I can tell you from personal experience how hard it is to get into rhythm at a new work place. On the one hand, there is the desire for many to excel at their performance. But if you want to get into rhythm, you need to learn the rhythm. And that requires listening and being observant when you are just starting off.

Summary: While most of this advice is common sense, new employees all too often disregard these guidelines and get carried away trying to impress or dazzle their coworkers and new employers. Approach new employment with that classic writer's warning, "show, don't tell." In other words, let your actions as an employee speak for themselves. If you act like a great employee, you will be acknowledged and treated as one.

for more information, visit our website!

E-Tip 274 - How to Hire the Right Employee (Part 2 of 2)

Last week, we walked you through five steps for preparing to hire the right employee. We discussed the importance of research when it comes to a potential candidate - of acquiring as much relevant information as you can in order to draw a more complete, three-dimensional picture of your candidate. Once that is done, all that is left is the interview, itself.

As we stated last week, the interviewing process should involve more than just sitting across a table and asking the candidate a battery of questions. The process should be an ebb and flow of shared information, not a one-sided conversation. In order to achieve a natural flow during the interview, we have listed below a number of tips and suggestions.

For The Actual Interview.

For employers who are looking to hire, it is easy to fall into a rhythm of asking questions. Nevertheless, if you really want to get to know the candidate, you need the interview to be a mutually comfortable conversation. Here are a few ways to shape an interview into a conversation:

• Provide the candidates with opportunities to ask their own questions, without prompting them.
• Ask open-ended questions that force the candidate to open up, instead of delivering pre-prepared responses.
• Ask hypothetical situation questions for the candidate to respond to.

While keeping a candidate on their toes by throwing a few curveballs is always smart, you do not want to overpopulate the interview with these types of questions. There is still room for the standard line of questioning, such as:

• Tell me about yourself and the things you enjoy.
• What are your greatest strengths?
• Are there areas in which you feel you need more experience or training?
• What do you consider your greatest achievement to date?
• Tell me about a project or a sale you feel you could have handled better; what did you learn from it?
• Where do you see yourself in five years?
• What are your salary expectations?

Other tactics to utilize during the interviewing process include changing up interviewers, changing up interview locations, and changing up interview styles - one-on-one interviews, group interviews, etc.

After The Interview Is Over.

Just because the interview is over does not mean your work is done. We highly suggest checking references as well as conducting background checks and drug tests. As we all know, the person who is giving the reference is going to be positive. During that conversation, keep an ear-out for what a reference does not say or chooses to avoid answering.

Summary:Do not dominate the interview; engage your potential employee in a push-pull conversation. Remember, you are looking to add a new player to your team. Your new hire will need to play well with others, and complement your operation in their own unique way. Look beyond who a person is on paper and see who they might be in your employ. And remember, 35% - 50% of the résumés you receive will contain discrepancies about work experience or education history, so take advantage of references.

For more information, visit our website!

E-Tip 273 - How to Hire the Right Employee (Part 1 of 2)

One of the biggest challenges businesses today face is recruiting top talent. Sure, finding someone who is interested in working for you may be easy, but finding the right employee for your company is easier said than done. To help facilitate the hiring process, many companies employ a number of tactics such as personality tests, competence tests and a variety of interviewing techniques. We would like to share some of these tactics with you.

Look At The Interview Process From Different Angles.

Approaching an interview from several different angles is the key to finding your ideal candidate - a step often overlooked by the busy employer. Interviewing is a two-way street. Just as you are exploring how well a potential candidate will fit into your company, they are exploring whether they wish to be working for you. If you are looking to bring your A-game to the interview process, then prepare by following the five steps below:

5 Steps For Preparing To Hire The Right Employee.

1. Organize Yourself - You expect your candidates to prepare extensively for their interviews, right? So why shouldn't you? If you truly want the best candidate to work for you, you need to put aside time to create a checklist of the qualities and skills you hope to find in such an employee.

2. Speak With The Recruiting Firm - If you are using a recruiting firm to find someone, you need to ask the recruiter why they are recommending a particular candidate. Presumably, the recruiter has interviewed the candidate themselves, so interview the interviewer. Ask the recruiter about the candidate's strengths and weaknesses. If your recruiter is unable to provide satisfactory answers, you may want to reconsider using them in the hiring process.

3. Use Multiple People To Interview The Candidate - Interviewers bring with them unique perspectives shaped by personal experiences; and this is why we recommended the use of different people (who would be affected by this person's hiring) to interview the candidates. Plus, having someone else interview this person will give you several different perspectives, which are invaluable in the hiring process.

4. Do Not Give Your Answer Away To The Interviewee - One of the most common mistakes made by interviewers is giving away too much information about what they want and need in a person. Typically, many employers start an interview with a brief overview of their company, its history, their operation, what the job opening entails and what they are looking for in an employee. Unfortunately, this provides the interviewee with clues as to how they should tailor their responses. Focus on learning all that you can in the first half of the interview and then answer his or her questions in the latter part of the interview.

5. Read The Candidate's Résumé In Detail - Prior to the interview, you need to read and reread a potential candidate's résumé and cover letter. Both can speak volumes of a person's skill sets and how well they communicate.

Summary: When looking to hire the right employee, first be sure you know exactly what skills and qualities the ideal candidate should have. Second, explore the final round of candidates from every angle available. Doing so will produce a more accurate portrait of who they are, not only as a worker but also as a person. Next week, we will discuss the interview, itself, in depth.

For more information, visit our website!

E-Tip 272 - 7 Steps to Do BEFORE an Employee Leaves

Whether an employee leaves your company amicably on their own terms or after being fired, there are a number of steps a business should take to ensure their security and, in the end, their prosperity. The departure of an employee is far more critical a moment than when they first join your team as new employees know nothing about your operation. Conversely, departing employees have cultivated and retained a great deal of knowledge about your business, your competitors, your financials and, most importantly, your client list.

Even If It Is An Amicable Separation, You Need To Read This . . .

Even if the departing employee has performed admirably and has shown no signs of hostility during their employment, there is no way of knowing for sure how they will react when it comes time to part ways. To help keep your company safe, we have consolidated seven key steps to take when an employee departs. Try not to look at these steps as measures to take for problematic employees, but rather a standard set of rules to follow regardless of who the employee is and what kind of employment record they had with your business.

The 7 Steps To Take BEFORE Any Employee Leaves Your Business:

1. Issue A Final Paycheck - Every departing employee must be issued a final paycheck, but when they must receive it depends on your state's laws. In some states, an employee's final paycheck must be issued on their last day of work. In other states, their paycheck may still follow the usual payroll cycle. There is also the matter of accrued unused vacation time that may need to be included in the final paycheck. After payroll has cut the employee's final paycheck, have the accounting clerk remove their name from payroll.

2. Collect Company Property - Do not let departing employees walk out the door for the last time while still in possession of a company car, keys, security cards, company credit cards, computers, cell phones, company manuals or any confidential material. While this may seem obvious, it is very easy to forget these items when you have trusting feelings toward certain employees.

3. Cancel Credit And Phone Cards - In addition to collecting company credit cards and phone cards, as mentioned above, you should also cancel them. An employee could have easily copied down the card's information for personal use. And since there is no way of knowing whether they did, the best course of action is to cancel those cards.

4. Deactivate Personal Passwords - The departing of an employee is always a matter of security, and one of the chief security concerns is access -- access to the building, access to your network, etc. Be sure to disable any personal passwords or entry codes to the building, especially if you use a biometric system. Remove any lingering profiles they may have on the network, and institute a company-wide password change to anything with a generic login.

5. Address Confidentiality Policies - This coincides with the collection of company property. Since you cannot collect something intangible like knowledge, it is pertinent that you debrief departing employees. Review any non-disclosure agreements and/or non-compete clauses you may have arranged with the employee. It is crucial that you make clear their obligations to adhere to those arrangements. We also suggest that you give them a copy of the agreement for future reference.

6. Decide Who Will Handle Projects - To make certain your employee's departure does not impact the company's day-to-day productivity, create a plan that distributes their responsibilities among other employees. Also, have the departing employee personally brief these employees, but be cautious about this; it can sometimes be caustic if the person is not leaving on good terms. Make sure you start this process early to give everyone involved enough time to get coordinated on picking up the extra work.

7. Assign A Point Of Contact - Even though an employee is leaving, they may still need to communicate with your company for several weeks, especially regarding references. Give them a point of contact within the company they can solicit needed information.

Executive Summary: Whether an employee departure is on their own terms or against their will, you need to remind yourself that this is strictly business; therefore, try to keep your emotions in check even though a good friend may be leaving the company. As a reminder, collect the company's property, deactivate all passwords, and debrief the departing employee. These steps will ensure that your business goes through a seamless transition when an employee leaves without any serious hiccups, significant loss or damage incurred.

for more information, visit our website!