Employer Advice Archives - Page 17 of 21

7 Insider Tips on Getting the Right Candidate Hired!

When working with our clients and candidates to find the best person for the position, we are often made aware of how a great candidate can be lost in the process. Here are 7 tips to make sure this does not happen to you!

1. Step up the interview process. An outstanding candidate has been identified, so you have to move swiftly! You do not want to lose the candidate to another company who has streamlined their processes to hire fast. Only have the key decision makers involved, so the interview process does not get drawn out.

2. A resume does not tell all! Not only do you need someone with the skills and expertise, but you also need someone who is a fit for your culture. Do not prejudge a candidate based upon a resume only. References can be very beneficial and can help with questions on culture. Hire candidates that have done their research on the client company, prepare questions ahead of time and can provide added value answers to the interviewers’ questions.

3. Not sure the person will work out? Many candidates are interested in starting out in a temporary position to determine if the role is the best fit for the candidate as well as the company.

4. Really need a full-time person to join your company? Do not limit yourself to finding candidates using only the temporary to hire method for bringing people into your organization. You will miss out on many great candidates who are currently working and are ready to make a job change.

5. Have knowledgeable people in charge of the hiring process even if you have to outsource to a staffing and search organization to do the recruiting for you. Look for firms that specialize in the area you are recruiting for in your organization.

6. Competitive compensation: Need we say more? Ask the recruiters you work with to provide salary information to help you with compensation trends.

7. How is Your Employment Brand? What is happening on Yelp and Glassdoor when you look up your organization? Do you have great reviews? Are you encouraging employees to review your organization? Are your responding to any reviews that are not positive?

The key to success is always good people! Matching highly skilled and competent professionals with equally competent and ethical employers will not only grow your business, it creates a great culture where people want to work!

If you are in need of finding great candidates, contact the award-winning HR recruiters at Arlington Resources today!

5 Tips for Working with a Recruiter to Find a Great Hire When Time is of the Essence

Need to hire a great employee, like yesterday? It’s a candidate-driven market, which means it’s getting harder and taking longer to hire talent than ever before. At the same time, company human resource teams are shrinking and there are less people to conduct the tasks needed to recruit suitable candidates. What’s a company to do that needs to hire people right away? The solution is to partner with a staffing firm in Chicago.

A staffing agency has many advantages, including:

The ability to reduce costs of hiring new employees because the agency absorbs all the upfront fees. From advertising and interviewing to background checks and drug screens, the temporary staffing agency you work with can handle all these details. Staffing agencies will screen the candidates originally and keep a database of options to pull from when your job opening meets the profile of their job candidates. Staffing organizations have dedicated recruiters spending 100 percent of their time recruiting candidates! When you are ready to hire, they are ready to provide candidates.
The speed and efficiency at which talent can be found. Have a special hiring need? Staffing agencies can easily work with your company to get a profile of your ideal employee; then start the process of finding the right person for the job. All candidates are carefully screened and ready to start work on the day promised.
An increased pool of talent for your company. Instead of hiring people just to replace others all the time, a staffing agency can support long-term growth of the company by bringing in talent that matches the culture of your organization. This network of talent is much larger than one a company can build alone. It can be in the best interest of a company to cast its net wide to find the best job candidates and employees.
Increased flexibility of staffing options. If your company needs immediate hires for a short-term project, a busy season or just to cover a large contract, the good news is that this is possible. Bring on some employees in a temp-to-hire position. Then you can choose to hire the best after a few weeks or months.
Job Market Conditions. Not sure your salary expectations for a position are accurate? A recruiter specializing in accounting and finance positions can quickly tell you if your salary is in the correct range for the person you are trying to hire. This feedback alone can save you time and energy when recruiting candidates.

These are just a few of the many reasons a temp-to-perm staffing agency and a team of recruiters can help support speedy hiring while providing your company with quality talent and cost-effective services.

Work With a Leader in Financial Recruiting in Chicago

At Casey Accounting & Finance Resources, we can help your financial company find the right job candidates for your job openings. Contact our award-winning team of recruiters today to learn how we provide great candidates who bring value to your organization.

Hire for Passion or Experience? Why You Need to Look at the Candidate Experience from the Other Side of the Table

It’s a candidate-driven market, which means more emphasis is being placed on the experience of the job candidate during the hiring process. A CareerBuilder survey revealed that “82 percent of employers believe there is little or no negative impact to a company when a candidate has a bad experience during the hiring process.” But this is not the case. Employees who have had a negative experience will quickly move onto a competitor and they may not ever consider your company again. Since job candidates have most of the leverage in today’s job search process, a bad experience in the hiring process will eliminate your company from consideration of the top talent you want to add to your organization.

One way to evaluate the experience of candidates is by going into their shoes and looking at it from a different angle. How can your company accomplish this?

From time to time, put yourself through the candidate application process. Does it seem complicated or too time consuming to fill out the application? Did you get an acknowledgment that you applied? How long until you actually get asked for an interview? These are all aspects that need to be evaluated on a regular basis if you want to focus on a positive candidate experience.

It’s easy to think your process works when you don’t have to go through it every day. If you don’t want to audit the process on your own and want to get a fresh perspective, ask someone in your organization who doesn’t directly work with the job candidate experience. You also could ask trusted colleagues, friends or other connections for their honest feedback.

Evaluate whether your company has had better success with hiring for passion vs. experience. In the past, there have been hires that have done outstanding based on either factor. Now is the time to see how they are doing. Are the people who were hired for passion still as enthusiastic about their jobs? Did the people who brought a lot of industry knowledge to the workplace stick around? Consider the time you or your company had to invest in getting the passionate new hires up to speed to complete the job responsibilities. With the experienced job candidates, did they meet the cultural fit of your organization or did a resume-based hire fall flat?

Interviews can be a valuable source of information too. They are often the first contact that candidates have with your company. In today’s climate, candidates are very eager to share their experience on company review websites like Glassdoor, or even on Google or Facebook. How are candidates rating their experience with interviews? Are they being challenged by the interview process or is it too predictable? Do they get an accurate image of the organization to help them make the best decision possible if they receive a job offer from your company? Or are they still confused about the job duties, culture and other factors?

From the side of the table that candidates sit behind, they are evaluating your company every step of the way. Be sure that your hiring practices meet their expectations and approval by putting yourself in their shoes once in a while.

Casey Accounting & Finance Resources, leaders in financial staffing in Chicago, will recruit and provide the accounting and finance staff your company needs. Contact our award-winning team of recruiters today to get started on finding the top talent your organization wants to add.

5 Salary Negotiation Tips for Employers!

Make sure the role is clearly defined for the future employee. Often we hear from candidates who start looking for a new position when the current position they are in doesn’t match what they were told during their interview. Salary may have been acceptable during the offer, but not if the actual position does not match what they were told.
Due to internal equity issues, try to interview candidates who are in the salary range. If you do have an exceptional candidate who is outstanding and outside the salary range, is there a senior role they could interview for at your organization? These candidates are hard to locate, so look to see if there is a place for them in your company in a different role.
Ask good questions when discussing salary. Let the candidate know you will require salary information verification. Ask about the candidate’s true base, bonus (how much and when does the bonus pay out), incentives (cell phone, laptop, car allowance, etc), stock options, pensions, 401(k), benefit costs, paid lunches, etc. This information will help you when determining the salary offer.
Do you have good information on what the current marketplace is paying for your job roles? Let the candidate know you have researched the role in your efforts to be competitive in the job market. In addition, let the candidate know why people enjoy working at your organization. This will help the candidate in their decision making process on accepting the offer or not.
Working with a recruiter helps to alleviate some of these concerns. The recruiter will know what salary the candidate is looking for in their next opportunity, and will share this information with you to help make sure the salary offer is competitive for the candidate and the marketplace. Sometimes clients feel confident negotiating salaries with candidates even though they are working with an agency, but they fail to realize that the recruiting firm has been working with the candidate for some time and may know the candidate on a level that the client does not. It’s almost always better to let the recruiting firm handle the negotiations to seal the deal and get a favorable response for everyone.

Your future employee will benefit going into the new role of the company knowing they were treated fairly in the salary negotiation process. The person will feel loyal, work harder and be committed to the company. If they feel that they were not treated fairly, then your company may be just a stop for them in their career as they keep their options open to future opportunity at other organizations.

How to Retain Your Best Talent: Employees Need to Be Connected to the Company

It has been said that it takes a lot more to maintain a happy workforce than it did years ago. This is supported by statistics, like the fact that nearly two-thirds of the workforce is actively disengaged from their jobs, and many others are using work time to search for other opportunities.

One of the better ways of keeping employees satisfied in their careers is to offer support for learning and development. Let’s face it, the convergence of personal and professional is happening more often in the workforce. People want support for their goals. How can your company develop enough programs to meet the unique needs of all its employees?

1. Make learning a core value in the workplace.

When learning is a value of the company, it becomes a normal aspect of the culture. This enables employees – who previously would be searching for new learning opportunities outside of work – to confidently pursue their professional development. Create a system to reimburse employees for continuing education. Send them to conferences. Purchase webinars if your budget is smaller. Encourage your staff to read articles throughout the day.

2. Identify learning and development programs that cater to employees at all levels.

Because learning styles can be so vastly different from one employee to the next, often driven by generational characteristics, learning and development programs need to be varied. Blend classroom learning programs with on-demand eLearning. Survey employees to find out what they want to learn and link this to their career goals. Not everyone wants to sit in front of a computer for a 60-minute webinar, and not everyone wants to go hear a local speaker.

3. Bring industry-leading programs and experts directly to employees.

Get your employees excited about learning and connect them deeper to the company by bringing learning to them. Set up brown bag lunch and learn sessions, offer special talks from industry leaders, and create a full learning environment that includes employees of all generations and interests. Taking that information from outside topics and relating it to your company’s processes provides a natural connection for your employees.

4. Promote and reward learning achievers.

To create a deep connection with employees, link their learning efforts to performance. If they participate, reward them for making this commitment to excellence. Set up promotions and bonuses based on learning initiatives. The incentives don’t have to be anything major. You can tie salaries to something like continuing education or certifications. A small gesture like a gift card to a movie theater will be appreciated, especially if you recognize employees publicly.

Work with a Leading Financial Recruiter in Chicago

When your financial group has an employment need for top financial talent, work with the award-winning financial recruiters at Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Contact our great team today to get started!

Is a New Graduate the Right Option for Your Job Opening?

Another crop of new college graduates will be wrapping up celebrations and entering the job market in the coming months with high hopes of landing great careers in the Chicago region. Is your company in the right position to offer a new graduate their first full-time job after college? How can you know that hiring a brand new college graduate vs. a seasoned professional is the right thing to do? If you do hire a new grad, what can you expect?

A survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), revealed that employers are planning to hire almost 10 percent more college grads this year than last year. Recruitment and hiring of new college grads is up for a number of reasons, including:

College graduates have learned the most recent skills in technology and business advancement
New college graduates are eager to prove themselves to employers, especially millennials and Generation Z
Today’s college graduates are better prepared for the workforce due to post-recession changes in the educational system

Hiring college graduates adds an influx of energy and excitement to your workforce. They are excited to start their first “real” job and get their career going in the right direction. Having a balance of college graduates with your seasoned employees can help your business grow.

The traits you should be looking for when offering employment opportunities to new college graduates are:

Strong interpersonal communication skills using multiple mediums and technology. College students have grown up with electronic communication. It’s important to evaluate their written and verbal communication since not everything can be done through email (or text messaging!)
The ability to work well with other generations in the workforce, especially older employees. Younger employees may think they possess all the answers, but developing a balance of respect for each generation can result in great gains for the company.
Above-average work ethic and dedication to long-term success in the company. A lot of employers believe they can teach a number of skills but don’t want to develop a new employee’s work ethic. Getting a long-term commitment would be the best of both worlds, but it’s difficult to expect younger employees to pledge the first 10, 20 or 30 years of their career to the first job.

While new grads will be limited in their work experience, they will be able to show a progression of these traits through their college projects and any practicum. Behavioral interview questions can still be beneficial despite their lack of career experience. The teamwork concepts developed in college provide ample opportunity for experience in a number of situations that can be transferred to the professional sector.

To partner with a three-time recipient of Inavero’s Best of Staffing® awards, contact Casey Accounting & Finance Resources today and find out how a top staffing agency in Chicago can help with all of your accounting and financial employment needs.

Casey Accounting & Finance Resources, Inc. Wins INAVERO’S 2016 BEST OF STAFFING® Client and Talent Awards

Rolling Meadows, IL – February 18, 2016 – Casey Accounting & Finance Resources, a leading staffing organization specializing in the placement of Accounting & Finance Professionals announced today they have won Inavero’s Best of Staffing® Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to their clients and job seekers. Presented in partnership with CareerBuilder, Inavero’s Best of Staffing winners have proven to be industry leaders in service quality based completely on the ratings given to them by their clients and the employees they’ve helped find jobs. On average, clients of winning agencies are nearly three times more likely to be completely satisfied and talent of winning agencies are 50 percent more likely to be completely satisfied with the services provided compared to those working with non-winning agencies. Award winners make up less than two percent of all staffing agencies in the U.S. and Canada who earned the Best of Staffing Award for service excellence.

Focused on providing Accounting & Finance Professionals, Casey Accounting & Finance Resources is pleased to be able to provide outstanding services to their clients and candidates.

Casey Accounting & Finance Resources claims an Invaero® Best of Staffing Award for the third consecutive season.

“We are honored to achieve this milestone for our business and winning both awards – Inavero’s Best of Staffing® Client and Talent! Our team works hard to make our services the best for our clients and candidates, and I am very proud of what we have been able to accomplish together for the Accounting and Finance community! Currently 1 out of every 2.5 candidates interviewed by our clients is hired, providing a great resource of outstanding talent with a quick response rate.” Casey Accounting & Finance Resources President and CEO, Patricia Casey said.

“Leaders of growing companies are more committed than ever to staying flexible in this stable yet volatile market making staffing firms the most viable employment partnership,” said Inavero’s CEO Eric Gregg. “Finding the best staffing partner with a proven commitment to service excellence can be really tough. BestofStaffing.com is the place to find the winning agencies that place talent with the skills you need in your city or state. We are very proud of the 2016 award winners.”

Casey Accounting & Finance Resources, Inc.
Casey Accounting & Finance Resources is a nationally accredited, best in class recruitment firm specializing in the placement of Accounting & Finance Resources talent for both temporary placement and direct hire. Our dedicated staff is well networked in the Accounting & Finance community, tenured and industry certified. With our strong relationships, referrals and sourcing skills, we can quickly locate top talent to add to your team. In addition to our outstanding recruiting practices, we are committed to community service and philanthropy. Our people are our greatest asset!

About Inavero
Inavero administers more staffing agency client and talent satisfaction surveys than any other firm in the world. Inavero’s team reports on over 1.2 million satisfaction surveys from staffing agency clients and talent each year and the company serves as the American Staffing Association’s exclusive service quality partner.

About Inavero’s Best of Staffing
Inavero’s Best of Staffing® Award is the only award in the U.S. and Canada that recognizes staffing agencies that have proven superior service quality based completely on the ratings given to them by their clients and job candidates. Award winners are showcased by city and area of expertise on BestofStaffing.com – an online resource for hiring professionals and job seekers to find the best staffing agencies to call when they are in need.

2016 Salary Survey

Happy New Year! 2016 is upon us, and with that, there are updates to salaries in finance and accounting. The compensation trends change every year and with the fluctuating economy, you need to be on top of your game when negotiating salary numbers.

Looking to learn more about what salary expectations should be? Casey Accounting and Finance Resources can help! We have compiled our salary survey list with updated facts and figures including job descriptions for Finance and Accounting positions for the Chicago metropolitan area.

Contact us today and we will be happy to share this with you. In the “YOUR MESSAGE” section, please enter “2016 Finance Salary Survey”. Best wishes to you in 2016!

Be a Better Teammate – How a Positive Attitude Affects You and Those Around You

Be a Better Teammate – How a Positive Attitude Affects You and Those Around You
by Gregg Gregory

Many people believe that, with a positive attitude and positive thinking, you can do anything, including be a better teammate. I have an amazingly positive attitude, but if you needed surgery tomorrow, would you really want me to perform that surgery? Of course not.

While I do possess a positive, can-do, attitude, I don’t possess the skills to perform any kind of surgery. I believe that, with positive thinking, you can do everything (that you do) better than with negative thinking.

After a long week of travel and crossing the country twice in just eight days, an exhausted Jose was going through airport security late one night when an airport security woman said, “Hi, how are you?” Now let’s be clear, when the average person says, “Hi, how are you?” they really don’t care and are not even listening to your response.

Jose, being almost always in a positive frame of mind, quickly said to the security woman, “I am having an awesome evening and I am getting better.” In a very raspy and sarcastic tone of voice the security woman said, “Well somebody’s in a good mood.” Jose responded, “Why would you ever choose to be in a bad mood?” The woman looked like a deer caught in headlights and responded genuinely saying, “You know, you are right, and thank you for reminding me it is my choice. Have a great evening.”

Did Jose change the attitude of the woman? No. All he did was to provide an open atmosphere where the woman could freely and comfortably make a decision to change her attitude. Jose walked around the corner and watched for several minutes as the woman greeted the next few passengers with an entirely different and positive attitude. This, in turn, had a positive effect on the passengers as well. The real question is: how long did the attitude of the woman stay in a positive state? Quite probably until a passenger with a very strong negative attitude came by and yelled at her.

Bottom line, nearly 90% of the people you meet can be affected by the attitude you present at any given time, so why not impact the world in a positive way?

Here are five things to remember about having a positive attitude:

The average person comes in contact with 10 different people a day, either on the phone or in person. This means that your positive attitude not only impacts the 10 you come into contact with, but it can impact up to two or more generations down the line. If you are positive to the 10 people you come in contact with, and they do the same for just one more generation, that means that your positive attitude impacted 100 people. What if that carried out just one more generation? You have now impacted 1,000 people with your positive attitude. Unfortunately, a negative interaction works the same way.
Your attitude drives your work behavior. If you are positive, you will do your work faster and at a higher quality than if you have a negative attitude. Think back through the last three or four days. What kind of attitude did you have when you got to work? Now how was your production for that day? Do you see any correlation?
Remember, your attitude is not just in your words, it is demonstrated in the way you stand, your facial expressions as well as the tonality of your voice. Non-verbal cues can be even more devastating than the words you selected.
Your attitude has a dramatic impact on your health. This does not mean that positive people will never get sick or have problems. It does mean that they usually use their attitude to get through the problems more quickly. The same applies to laughter. How often do you get a gut wrenching belly laugh? How do you feel after such a laugh?
Remember, like the airport security officer, your attitude is your choice. When you feel like you are headed in the wrong direction, do one of the following:

Think about a time when things were clicking just right.
Call a friend and let them pick you up.
Make a change in what you are doing at that moment to something you know will help create positive energy.

The bottom line is, when you are thinking positively you will be more effective in every aspect of your life and, in many cases, the endorphins released can reduce pain and anxiety, which perpetuates a greater positive attitude.

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A diverse, twenty-year background in real estate, mortgage banking, event planning, and production, as well as radio and television broadcasting, created a perfect storm that put Gregg Gregory where he is today. Gregg works hard to ensure that different personalities can work together successfully to accomplish your organization’s mission, goals, and objectives. To learn more about Gregg’s powerful teambuilding programs and events, visit www.Teamsrock.com or call 301-564-0908

7 Reasons Recruiting Firms Help You Find the Best Talent – Including Millennials

Millennial employees are highly sought-after in today’s job market, for their technology expertise and above-average career drive. It’s no wonder that the competition is fierce among companies in the Chicago area. In order to recruit the best of the best from the millennial generation, there are multiple reasons recruitment firms can be beneficial to your business.

1. Recruitment agencies have a pipeline of millennial talent.

It can be highly efficient and cost-effective to hire millennials through a recruitment agency. They have a large pipeline of candidates who are ready to start work immediately. Candidates are prescreened and versed about your company before they start, which makes onboarding simple.

2. A recruitment firm can advise your company on starting packages.

Millennials are looking for the best starting salaries, benefits and workplace perks possible. A recruitment agency can help guide your company on setting up generous compensation packages that attract the best talent.

3. Recruitment agents have resources to find the best candidates.

Recruiters are great at networking and they have access to a large number of resources for finding candidates. By partnering with a professional recruitment firm, you have access to all their collective resources.

4. Recruiters are widely connected with colleges and social networks.

Not only are recruitment pros in touch with many resources, they also network with others through social media, college career centers, and other community groups where millennials are seeking work opportunities.

5. Millennials know that recruitment agencies are hiring them.

When they need a job, millennials understand that the fast track to getting hired by a leading company is to register with a staffing agency. There are many opportunities to hire employees directly through a staffing and recruitment agency like ours.

6. Recruitment agencies can handle all the pre-employment and payroll details.

Another key benefit of working with a recruitment firm is the ability to control staffing costs for upfront things like pre-employment screening, background checks. It’s also more cost-effective to let the recruitment firm handle employment paperwork, payroll and even benefits administration.

7. Finding millennials who have the best fit for your culture is made easier.

Recruitment agencies are able to use tools to evaluate the suitability of every candidate before placing them in jobs. Millennials are interested in a positive experience with an employer, therefore it can be helpful to have them work through the staffing agency for a more positive onboarding experience, including making sure they are a good fit for your company.

As a trusted staffing firm, Casey Accounting & Finance Resources reduces your time spent on recruiting, evaluating, screening and interviewing employees. Contact our award-winning recruiters today to get started on finding top candidates for finance careers in Chicago in 2016!