Are Cover Letters Outdated? Why Requiring a Cover Letter in Your Application Process May Deter Candidates from Applying

The majority of hiring managers have stopped requiring cover letters to be included with resumes. Most managers feel that cover letters have no impact on which applicants they decide to interview.

As a result, you may want to consider eliminating cover letters from your application process. Because this saves candidates time, they are more likely to apply for your roles.

Because they typically do not influence hiring decisions, you may want to stop including cover letters in your application process.

Automation in Hiring

The process of matching candidates with jobs is increasingly being done with technology. With the amount of online information available, applicant details are easily accessible. As a result, cover letters typically are not necessary.

You can learn about applicants through their social media profiles, online portfolios, websites, and blogs. This provides greater nuance and detail than a cover letter can.

Speed and Convenience

Online and mobile applications are becoming the new norm for job applications. This partly is because efficiency and effectiveness are required to attract top talent.

Requiring a cover letter may dissuade the best candidates to complete your application process. Most candidates will not spend more than 15 minutes on an application. Elimination of a cover letter can help resolve this issue.

Other Screening Methods

You may choose different methods to prescreen applicants. For instance, you might use assessment tools to validate the skills you are looking for. Or, you could request video submissions to get a feel for applicants’ personalities. This can help determine which applicants would be a good culture fit.

Make sure you use the right job titles and descriptions in your job postings. This can narrow down the list of applicants with the soft skills that otherwise may be listed in cover letters.

Tailor your job content to attract qualified applicants. These applicants have the experience, achievements, goals, and personality to excel in the role.

Get Help with Your Hiring Process

As cover letters continue to become outdated, you may want to reconsider whether should be included in your application process. The best talent does not want to spend a lot of time applying for a job. Also, most hiring managers aren’t considering content in cover letters when deciding which applicants to interview. As a result, it may be in everyone’s best interest not to require the submission of cover letters with resumes.

For help with hiring accounting and finance professionals, contact Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Reach out today.

How to Build Better Relationships Among Your Staff

Encouraging positive relationships among your staff is important. The more comfortable they feel working together, the more confidently they will brainstorm, develop new ideas, and voice their opinions. Open communication develops trust, respect, self-awareness, and inclusion. Developing this foundation helps your staff members more effectively create, innovate, and embrace change. It also promotes employee engagement, productivity, and retention.

Implement these tips to encourage connectivity among your team.

Train on Emotional Intelligence

Talk with your staff about the ability to recognize their own emotions to better understand what they are communicating. The development of this skill helps your staff members become more adept at identifying the emotions of their coworkers. This lets your staff more effectively fill their own needs and the needs of others.

Encourage Mindful Listening

Teach your staff to listen more than they talk. This helps them focus on what is being said and how they can effectively contribute to the conversation. Also, encourage your staff to ask follow-up questions about an issue. They can uncover more information and be better prepared to overcome an obstacle. Plus, remind your staff to show empathy when helping others. Working in a supportive environment helps with problem-solving.

Promote Boundaries

Remind your staff not to let relationship-building interfere with productivity. Although they need to provide enough time to talk with coworkers, they also need to finish their work on time. This means that social interactions should take place during break times.

Ask Questions

Ask your staff members questions about their personal life. Show that you want to learn more about who they are. Share information about your own life as well. Also, find common ground that you can build on. These topics may become the subjects of future conversations. Set an example for your staff members to follow with each other.

Express Appreciation

Let your staff know how much you appreciate their efforts and results. For instance, point out one specific action each staff member took each day to contribute to the organization. Mention what the results were and how the action benefitted the company. This encourages your staff to interact in the same manner with their teammates. Such actions promote a supportive team culture.

Looking for Accounting & Finance Staff?

The stronger the relationships among your staff members, the more collaborative your team is. This increases engagement, productivity, and retention. It also improves job satisfaction, employee morale, and your bottom line.

Casey Accounting & Finance Resources can provide the collaborative professionals you need to fill your team’s needs. Learn more today.

The Importance of Flexible Scheduling and How to Make It Work for Your Business

Companies that offer flexible schedules help accommodate their employees’ different lifestyles. This is becoming increasingly important as a method to attract quality accounting and finance candidates. Because more job seekers want control over their work-life integration, your team should be able to set their own work hours. Fortunately, implementation can be accomplished in a few steps.

Discover some benefits of offering a flexible schedule and how to implement it for your accounting and finance team.

Increased Work-Life Integration

Your team members appreciate being able to schedule their work around their personal lives. They can participate in their children’s school activities, run errands, and take care of household responsibilities while fitting in their work. This helps reduce stress and the potential for burnout.

Enhanced Engagement

Employees who work flexible hours remain engaged longer in their work. They feel highly respected and empowered by their manager. As a result, the staff tends to miss fewer days of work, stay focused longer, and accomplish more each day.

Greater Productivity

The ability to set their work hours lets your team members get more done each day. They can work during the times they are most focused and productive. Your employees’ energy levels and concentration levels should be high, allowing more tasks to get finished.

Stronger Employee Retention

Because employees prefer greater control over their time, they appreciate having a flexible schedule. This increases the likelihood of staying with their employer long-term. The longer you keep your staff, the lower your recruitment, onboarding, and training costs.

Additional Top Talent

Offering a flexible schedule encourages the best job seekers to want to work for you. Because many candidates find this perk even more attractive than salary and benefits, you may be able to save money in these areas. You also could attract more applicants than your competitors who do not offer flexible work hours.

Fill Your Team’s Needs

Ask your staff what their interest and needs are for working flexible hours. Find out whether they can effectively function as a team and what would have to happen to make it work. Make sure that your employees would be available when needed for meetings, client discussions, and other responsibilities.

Create a Policy

Develop written rules about flexible scheduling requirements. This may involve having to be at the office or available by phone during certain times. Include how communication with staff will occur when they are not in the office. Make sure the policy is detailed, clear, and non-discriminatory.

Need Top Accounting & Finance Talent?

Implementing a flexible schedule for your accounting and finance team provides many benefits. Productivity, engagement, and work-life integration should increase. This can attract the best candidates and lead to greater employee retention.

When you need to add the best talent to your team, reach out to Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. We have the candidates you need to fulfill your business goals.

Prevent Buyer’s Remorse! How to Make Sure You Have a Smooth Transition into Your New Job

Changing jobs can be a stressful time in your life, and you want to make sure you are taking steps to make the transition just a little easier. Being careful about how you conduct yourself during those last few weeks on the job is important because you want to make sure you are leaving on a good note, and ensure you are in the mindset to take on your next opportunity. Whether you’ve been with the company for a few months or a few years, here are some things you can do to make your transition to the new job much smoother.

Share the news with contacts on your last day of the old job.

Your colleagues may already know you are leaving, but you will want to wait to share any updates on social media or LinkedIn until your final days on the job. Make sure to notify people and make changes before you start your actual job, so you aren’t worried about getting updates, notifications and emails all day long on your first few days at the job. You need to be focused and show you are dedicated to the new job 100 percent — so email and social media interruptions need to be kept at a minimum.

Don’t talk poorly about your former employer.

If you had a hard time with your previous boss or weren’t happy with the job, it’s tempting to speak poorly about the old boss. Make sure you are not going out of your way to talk badly about them with colleagues, your future boss, or anybody else that may be connected with the company. You don’t want to be known as the person who ended up badmouthing the boss just because of a bad working relationship. There are always two sides to the story, and you don’t want to burn any bridges.

Be friendly.

It can be intimidating to meet new co-workers and get acquainted with new people in your department or company. You will need some time to learn about your new role and get adjusted to the new work environment. Make it a priority to be friendly to people during this time, so that you can make some new connections. Stay positive even when you feel anxious or stressed about the job so you can develop a solid network of contacts.

Take notes.

Take notes during meetings and just jot down key things you learned during the day, so you can keep yourself organized and on track. Taking notes will help you settle in that much faster, and have some things to study as you get acquainted.

Be ready to participate.

The new company has hired you to contribute and your role may involve active participation in meetings, brainstorming sessions and other group activities where you will need to speak up. Be confident in your decision to be there and don’t be afraid to do your part and come ready to participate.

Transitioning to a new job can be stressful, but there are several things you can do to make the change more manageable. If you need help with your job search or career advice, consider working with a top financial staffing firm in Chicago, Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Contact us today!

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