Employer Advice Archives - Page 16 of 21

A Season of Thanks! What We Are Grateful For!

As Thanksgiving is upon us, we reflect on how fortunate we are and what we are grateful for in our everyday lives as we work to place our great candidates in outstanding jobs with great companies!

I am grateful for the CUBS world series! Go CUBS Go! And to work for a great family oriented company that has allowed me to purchase World Series gear! Erika

I am grateful for being able to assist candidates in finding their dream job and making an impact in their life! Jessica

I would like to give thanks to all the amazing people I get to work with! This is by far the best company I have worked for and I can’t wait to see where the next year brings us! Elizabeth

I am grateful for my health and for the passion that I have to live a healthy lifestyle. Cheryl

I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with such wonderful people: co-workers, clients and candidates! I’m also grateful for my old horse that still likes to go out on trail rides. Freedom is a wonderful thing! Denise

I am grateful for having found my calling with such a great team and how positively it impacts me, my clients, my candidates, and my family. Noori

I’m thankful for the clients and candidates who’ve trusted me to help them. Pete

I’m thankful for having the opportunity to experience the world of staffing. I work with a great group of people who have taken the time to guide and teach me in this industry. This opportunity has given me the chance to see how rewarding staffing truly is. Erin

I am grateful to be part of a team that is so passionate about what they do, as well as, supporting each other. Renee

I’m grateful for the relationships I have been able to build with both my clients and candidates. The trust someone places in you when looking for a new career is something we take very seriously and I’m grateful that many people have put that trust in me this year. Adam

I am thankful for my freezer because it keeps my frozen pizzas preserved day in and day out. Jake

I’m grateful for the organization that I work at. It allows me the freedom and independence to utilize my own unique means of developing meaningful relationships with my clients, prospects and candidates. I am also grateful for both my partnering director and myself to have been on this ride for over 20+ years together. Eileen

I am grateful to be a part of Arlington Resources and work with amazing people! Brooke

I am grateful to be able to maintain a strong work/life balance. Health and happiness to all this upcoming holiday season! Rob

The Cubs, our social committee, and our wonderful team have made 2016 one of the best years ever! I am grateful to have such meaningful work, a great team that makes it happen every day, and being able to help others along the way. Happy Thanksgiving! Patty

Why Blind Interviewing Helps Your Organization

When you’re looking for the ideal candidate for your organization, you may be able to find the most suitable match with a blind interview. Many organizations are using this approach to have job seekers audition for a job without knowing anything about the individual’s educational background, age, gender or other factors. The test is to see how well the individual can perform at the job and whether they have the level of talent the interviewer is looking for. Here are some ways blind interviewing can help your organization:

Helps With Diversity

In fields that tend to not be so diverse, blind interviewing can help to create a more diverse work environment. You may end up hiring people of a variety of ethnicities, age groups and genders who are extremely talented and get along well with each other because of it.

Eliminates Bias

Many people don’t realize they have a psychological bias when they are looking at names on a resume or schools that a potential candidate has attended. You may be guilty of this without knowing it; blind interviewing eliminates the possibility you are making a biased decision.

Gauge Phone Skills Easily

Since you may not be conducting a face-to-face interview with these candidates, the phone interview will reveal whether the individual has good verbal skills and can speak confidently over the phone.

Gauge Written Skills

If the job involves writing or even composing persuasive emails, you will be able to gauge the candidates writing and communication skills with a writing test or upon requesting a short essay. This can be helpful for determining whether the candidate has a strong enough skill set to manage writing assignments on the job and whether they can convey their ideas effectively.

If you are searching for highly qualified candidates, reach out to a leading Chicago finance recruiter and contact Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. We can provide job placement services to make the hiring process that much easier.

Recent Placements from Casey Accounting & Finance Resources

As a nationally accredited, best in class recruitment firm, our staff at Casey Accounting & FInance Resources is well networked in the Accounting & Finance community, tenured and industry certified. With our dedicated staff experienced in developing relationships, obtaining referrals, and sourcing candidates, we can locate top talent that you may not be able to find on your own. In addition to our outstanding recruiting practices, our team is committed to community service and philanthropy.

CASEY ACCOUNTING & FINANCE RESOURCES recent placements include the following:

Temporary Positions Filled:

A/P Supervisor
Sr. Financial Analyst
Payroll Manager
Sr. Accountant
Credit and Collections Clerk
Inventory Control Clerk
Payroll Administrator

Direct Hire Positions Filled:

Controller
Project Accountant
Plant Controller
A/P Specialist
Sr. Accountant
Payroll Specialist
Accounting Clerk

For more information on our recent placements: http://casey.appsnapnv.com/jobs-filled/

Do You Know Your Company’s Online Brand Can Be the Difference?

What people think about your company can make a big difference when you’re trying to attract the best talent. Bad reviews, negative ratings, and complaints from customers are easy to discover online and anybody searching for information about your company will usually find these statements and pages first. If you have disgruntled employees or employee satisfaction is relatively low, there’s also a good chance that some are posting negative reviews online or sharing negative information with friends, family members and future co-workers.

Here are some things to consider when monitoring your online brand.

What Does Your Company Look Like to Potential Employees?

Jumping on Google to do a basic keyword search and looking at the results on the search engines can make it easier for you to understand what a prospective employee might see if they were interested in your company. Negative reviews and ratings from employees on Glassdoor may appear at the top of search engine results pages, which means potential employees may have a biased view of what working at your company is really like. Take some time to disarm some of these reviews, if you can, by posting follow-up messages and making sure all profiles about your company are filled out accurately.

What Are You Doing to Promote Company Culture and Values?

Is your human resources department being proactive to promote company culture and values, or is it difficult for people to figure these things out from your website and marketing materials? Make sure you are taking extra steps to convey your core values and culture through your website, email marketing, and any correspondence related to the hiring process.

How Do People Learn About Available Jobs?

How easy is it for people to learn about available jobs with your company? If you’re not advertising jobs on your website or making updates on social media about available positions, you may be missing out on attracting a pool of quality candidates. Take the time to write up compelling job descriptions and information about your company that gets posted on all the major, reputable job sites and is also in the hands of a staffing firm. Staffing firms can be especially helpful for matching you with the right candidates and ensuring your company is presented in the best possible light.

What Are Employees Saying Online?

Websites such as Glassdoor, Indeed and Vault list information about different employers, including salary listings and responses from survey respondents. If your company has garnered many reviews from employees, this will attract the attention of prospective employees interested in learning more about the company from an insider’s perspective. Take the time to review what is being said about you in detail and consider making internal improvements, if needed. Encourage happy employees to post positive reviews to outnumber the negative posts.

Your company’s online brand can make a difference when trying to attract top talent. Working with a Chicago financial staffing firm like Casey Accounting & Finance Resources can help you find top talent and get you the professional representation you need.

You Can Find Talent, but How Can You RECRUIT Them to Make the Move?

The internet and social media have made it easier than ever to recruit talent and network with potential candidates. However, you need to make an effort to sell the job effectively in order to attract and retain the right candidates. Getting the candidate interested and on the phone or in the office for an interview is an important first step, but you also need to make sure the candidate is truly interested in the position and has good interpersonal skills to handle the job. After that, you will need to position the company appropriately and share important information to keep the candidate interested.

Here are some important things to consider with your recruiting efforts.

Hiring During a Good Economy

When unemployment rates are low, it can be difficult to find people who are actively looking for a new job. Even if you have plenty of great positions to fill, there’s a chance that there just isn’t enough talent readily available to apply and fill those positions. Hiring during good economic times means you will need to be more proactive and creative with your recruitment efforts. You may also need to raise the bar on your offerings and attract high-quality candidates with higher-than-average salaries and benefits packages.

Identifying What Your HR Department Does Well

If your recruiting efforts aren’t paying off or you just aren’t able to tap into a large enough candidate pool, it may be time to review your hiring process. Take some time to identify what your HR department does well, and where it may be lacking. Consider which recruitment efforts are paying off and which ones are not attracting enough candidates. Whether it’s your social media and online job posting activities, or your efforts to attend career fairs and networking events, make sure you have a clear idea of what is working and what isn’t, so you can recruit higher-quality candidates consistently.

Learn From New Hires

If you have managed to recruit and retain a good group of new hires, consider sending out surveys about their experience, so you can figure out what you did right. Sometimes the best way to learn about your effectiveness with various hiring initiatives involves going straight to the source. Consider asking them what part of the selling process made them come to your company and what made them stay. Was it the way a job was presented? Was it how the hiring manager explained the role and followed up? Take the time to learn what worked — and what didn’t — from some of your best candidates.

Finding top talent can be a challenge, but there are several things you can do to improve your recruitment process and ensure qualified candidates make the move to secure the position. If you need help finding and retaining the right talent, let Casey Accounting & Finance Resources, a top financial staffing firm in Chicago help! Call us today for more information.

Top Accounting & Finance Talent Recently Placed

We have been busy helping out clients find top Accounting & Finance talent in a very competitive labor market! How can we help you?

Recently filled positions:

Staff Accountant-Chicago, IL
Payroll Admin-Rosemont, IL
Controller-DeKalb, IL
Accounting Clerk-Schaumburg, IL
A/P Supervisor-Northlake, IL
Sr. Financial Analyst-Glendale Heights, IL
Credit/Collections-Wood Dale, IL
Accounting Clerk-Schaumburg, IL
Payroll-Chicago, IL
Sr. Accountant-Glendale Heights, IL
Plant Controller-DeKalb, IL
Payroll Manager-Batavia, IL
Accounting Clerk-Rosemont, IL
A/P Specialist-Arlington Heights, IL
Accounting Assistant-Schaumburg, IL
A/R Clerk-Chicago, IL
Financial Analyst-Waukegan, IL
Sr. Accountant-Mundelein, IL
Inventory Clerk-Buffalo Grove, IL
Accounting Manager-Wood Dale, IL
A/P Clerk-Lake Zurich, IL
Accountant-Chicago, IL
A/P Clerk-Chicago, IL
Payroll Clerk-Schiller Park, IL
Payroll Clerk-Palatine, IL
Credit Analyst-Glendale Heights, IL
Director of Finance-Mount Prospect, IL
Staff Accountant-Northbrook, IL
Payroll Manager-Schiller Park, IL
Sr. Accountant-Mundelein, IL

Has Your Company Prepared for the Upcoming Overtime Wage Changes?

Whether you are in charge of managing a small startup or a larger corporation, salaried workers and businesses will soon be subject to a change in laws of the Fair Labor Standards Act — the first change in 40 years. President Obama directed the Secretary of Labor to update overtime regulations so that workers who are working overtime are fairly compensated. The final rulings will go into effect on December 1, 2016, so your company needs to be prepared for the changes ahead. Here are some things you need to know about the upcoming overtime wage changes:

About the Overtime Wage Changes

The latest overtime updates are designed to extend protection to 4.2 million workers across the United States and the largest populations of these workers reside in California, Texas and Florida. Under these new rules, employees making less than $913 per week are now eligible to be paid overtime, wheras under the previous rules, employees making less than $455/week were eligible.

Employers are left to decide whether they want to increase the employee’s salaries above the new threshold or pay time-and-a-half for overtime work. All workers must not work more than 40 hours per week without adequate compensation and companies do have the option of modifying salaries and paying time-and-a-half for overtime.

Preparing for the Wage Changes

Employers still have a few months to prepare for the overtime wage changes which will effectually increase the number of workers at the company who are eligible for new protections. This means your company may need to review salary tables and job offers, restructure departments to accommodate for a new budget, and consider how they want to compensate workers who do end up working overtime.

One of the first things you can do is to classify all employees by salary and ensure that anybody making over the threshold is exempt from overtime pay if their primary job duties involve executive, administrative or professional duties as outlined in the final regulations from the Department of Labor.

Determining how many current employees at their current salary level would then be eligible for overtime protection will give you an idea of the potential changes in cost. Monitoring these employees’ hours and implementing measures of productivity can help to determine whether an employee’s position should be modified or salaries adjusted. You may realize that some accounting and finance roles will retire overtime — especially during tax season or other busier seasons — so the budgets will need to be adjusted accordingly.

If you need help with evaluating your staffing resources and exploring different types of positions in accounting and financing, get in touch with our award-winning team at Casey Accounting & Finance Resources for assistance. As a top financial recruiting firm in Chicago, we can help you prepare for any internal changes you need to meet the upcoming changes to the overtime threshold.

Common Mistakes to Avoid when Filling out an I-9 form

It’s more important than ever that you have strong Form I-9 procedures. On average, about half of all I-9 forms have some sort of errors. Most errors are fairly common and easily avoidable, including the most common:

Late completion of the I-9 form. Section 1 must be completed on or before the first day of hire. Section 2 must be completed by end of the fourth day of hire.
Using an incorrect version of the form. The newest I-9 version is dated 3-8-2013.
No signature or incomplete document information, such as missing the date employment began, missing the name and of employer or date of employee’s execution of the form. For electronic versions of this form, Section 1 cannot populate from other areas (like candidate software). The most common error in Section 2 is failure to complete the Document Title Issuing Authority, Document Number and Expiration Date (if applicable).
I-9 form not produced in its entirety — both sides of the I-9 must be reproduced.
Instruction sheet is missing.
Documents are accepted that contain deletions, like an unsigned social security card.
White-out is used on the form. White-out is not permitted. If a mistake is made, place a line through the incorrect information, place your initials next to the incorrect information and provide the correct information.

To avoid mistakes — as well as fines during audits — we’ve compiled a list of tips to help you have a strong I-9 procedure in place:

Don’t be afraid to help employees fill out Section 1. You can avoid a lot of errors by questioning employees if you see them filling out something incorrectly in this section.
Purge and destroy I-9s after the proper timeframe: after three years or one year after termination, whichever is longer. By keeping old I-9s, you are opening yourself up to additional liability and possible fines if you are audited.
Be sure to document your hiring procedure as it relates to the use of the I-9 form.
Do not keep I-9 forms in the employee file. This makes it harder to purge forms as they are no longer needed.
Be sure to make copies of supporting documentation.
For remote employee, oftentimes people hire an agent to complete Section 2 of the I-9. The person signing Section 2 must be the person who physically reviewed the supporting documents.
Do NOT ask for immigration status.
You cannot ask for a green card or social security card. Nor should you accept more documentation than is necessary or tell the employee which documents they are to provide.
You must treat each person the same: ask the same questions in the same way to everyone.

Thank you to Tricom (www.tricom.com) for providing this very helpful guide to avoid common mistakes when filling out an I-9 form.

2016 Mid-Year Salary Survey for Accounting and Finance Available Now!

Casey Accounting & Finance Resources has compiled updated salary data for the fields of accounting and finance. In this job market featuring a shortage of qualified job candidates, this information on salary ranges helps job seekers and clients to find a fair pay range

With compensation trends changing every year, both sides need to be well-informed when negotiating job offers or even pay raises.

Arlington Resources can help human resources professionals who want to learn more about what salary expectations should be. We have compiled our salary survey list with updated facts and figures including job descriptions for more than 100 accounting and finance positions for the Chicago metropolitan area.

Email us today at FinancialSalarySurvey@caseyresources.com and we will be happy to share this with you. In the “YOUR MESSAGE” section, please enter “2016 Mid-Year Accounting & Finance Salary Survey”. Enjoy the rest of the summer!

What Questions Should You Be Asking Job Candidate References?

A recent survey indicated that recruiters will remove one in five candidates from consideration during the reference check process. Upon interviewing over 1,000 hiring managers, they found:

36 percent said they were interested in getting more insight on the applicant’s past job duties and experience
31 percent used a reference check to learn about candidate’s strengths and weaknesses
21 percent removed a candidate from consideration for a job after speaking to professional contacts

It’s really not surprising that hiring managers eliminate certain candidates during the candidate reference check process. Very often, candidates elaborate on their experience, inflate their own value, and even falsify information hoping no one will check. The smartest hiring managers use a consistent series of reference check questions for all candidates before offering them any employment.

Here are some questions that you can legally use when checking professional candidate references. Along with verifying their position and dates of employment, you will want to ask:

1. What is your relationship to the candidate?

If someone is a good reference for a candidate, they have had some direct supervision or observation to the candidate. Ask specifically about how they worked with this job candidate during their time with the company. Learn about the specific daily interactions, either as a co-worker or a supervisor. The office receptionist or a cousin of the candidate don’t count, sorry.

2. Would you bring them back?

This very simple question is also very important to understanding the reputation of the candidate. If the reference says Yes with no hesitation, it’s a great sign. If they hesitate or refuse to answer, this can be a red flag. Regardless of the answer, follow-up questions are important to gain more insight from the job reference. Some companies have policies that don’t allow the company to hire a person back once they have left the organization, no matter what the circumstances were when the person left.

3. What are their strengths and weaknesses on the job?

Once you break the ice with a reference it’s perfectly legal to ask about the performance of the candidate. Ask for the candidate’s biggest strengths and weaknesses, which can then be compared to how the candidate answers later in the interview. If the reference is being hesitant to talk about anything specific (especially in the weakness area), then have a list of questions prepared to gain the information that you want. When a bland answer comes from “What are their biggest weaknesses” then ask more direct questions about attention to detail, creativity, etc.

As part of the job hiring process, job references can become an integral piece of that process. They give information that you can’t learn directly from the job candidate. A well thought-out plan of questions for the job references can lead to great information that helps you make the best decision.

Work with an Award-Winning Recruiter in Chicago

As a trusted staffing firm, we reduce your time spent on recruiting, evaluating, screening and interviewing employees. Contact the award-winning recruiters at Casey Accounting & Finance Resources today to partner with a top financial recruiter in Chicago.