Staffing

Evaluating your Recruiting Company

December 27, 2012

It’s that time of year – for annual employee performance reviews, budget planning and goal-setting. It’s also time to evaluate current vendors to determine if they are a good fit, or if you’ll be making the switch in the coming year. Companies who use a recruiting firm should also evaluate their agency to ensure they are getting the most value out of the relationship. Here are some ways to do that:

1. Review the service your HR firm has provided over the past year. Evaluate on important criteria such as communication and responsiveness, professionalism, quality of applicants, recruiting process and the success of placements.

2. Analyze how well the HR firm works with your company’s HR department, executive team, company culture and personality.

3. If there are issues with your current HR firm, let them know in what areas they can improve in the future.

4. If you are considering using another HR firm, consider more than just cost and size. Have a face-to-face conversation with the firm’s key partners to determine the right fit, and ask for referrals from the firm’s customers.

5. Confirm with your recruiting firm which internal team members will be working with their agency, and update all contact information if necessary.

6. Let your recruiting firm know your business strategy, goals and any current or future organizational changes.

7. Discuss with your HR firm any recruiting plans for the year ahead, including roles and priorities.

8. If you are looking to expand your use of a recruiting firm in the coming year, give your firm a heads-up so that they can accommodate your staffing needs.

If you follow the recommendations above, you’ll not only find your relationship with your recruiting firm a better one, but you’ll benefit from greater results too.

HR Insights

Competing for Top Job Candidates

December 6, 2012

No matter how competitive the Indianapolis job market is today, employers will always have some level of competition for acquiring top candidates. A company must understand how to attract the best candidates for its position from among a smaller pool of applicants, as well as how to ensure that the hiring process and candidate strategy results in a successful hire.

Here are some strategies from our Indianapolis executive recruiters for effectively competing for job candidates:

Start internally: Make sure your job satisfaction is high and your employee turnover ratio is low, and clear up any outstanding issues with team members or with former candidates. Create an attractive work environment for potential job-seekers to reflect your commitment to the new position. This will present your company in a positive light for prospective candidates.
Build a strong brand: Generating positive media coverage for your company will help create more visibility in the marketplace. Having an updated website with a press room, marketing materials, a blog as well as active social media sites will give a positive impression to the searching candidate. Advertising in relevant local or trade media might be an option for your company too, depending on the type of candidates you need.
Position your company effectively: If your company cannot compete with others that are much larger or better known, use this to your advantage by presenting your company’s advantages, such as the position’s responsibility, company culture, flexible work environment, benefits, community involvement, innovativeness, or leadership and advancement opportunities.
Focus on the candidate experience: There’s nothing like a good first impression. Top candidates will be looking for positive signs that the job is a good fit for them during the interview process. The company or recruiter must build rapport with the candidate from the beginning and ask the right questions to determine whether the person is a right fit for the job, and assess the candidate’s motivation to take the position.
Act quickly: The best job candidates don’t take long to decide on a new position. If you are a smaller company, you might be able to act on a candidate much quicker than a larger one with a more involved hiring process. Either way, work nimbly to keep your hiring process moving along so that you don’t lose any opportunities.
Have a strong referral network: When top performers are ready to make a move, they will often put feelers in the marketplace among their close inner circle of friends, former co-workers or recruiters they trust. Make sure your network includes a few, quality recruiters so that the passive job candidate will consider your company before going into the active search phase. Staffing agencies can also help you screen and interview candidates, present the company in an objective, positive light, help you negotiate more effectively, and keep the search process moving forward.

With some of these strategies in place, your company will no longer be talking about “the one who got away.” That’s Good HR would be happy to assist your firm in attracting and hiring the best talent for your executive, accounting or other jobs, as well as streamlining your recruiting procedure to make sure you have your pick of the top candidates.

Staffing

Indiana Boasts one of the Best U.S. State Job Markets

December 3, 2012

Staffing Industry Analysts released a jobs market report this past month from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics program*. The results are in – and they are positive for the Central Indiana job market.

According to the report, the best state markets by volume job growth were: Texas, Indiana, Florida, California, Illinois, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. In addition, Texas, Indiana, Arizona, Kentucky, and Oklahoma ranked among the top ten states on both a volume and percent basis.

Here is how Indiana fared in the findings:

Indiana Job Market Rank: #5

Growth Score: 69 (offered as an indicator of the relative overall robustness of staffing trends in each labor market)

Percent Employment Growth:

12 months: 2.3%
6 months – 1.1%
3 months – .07%

Total Non-farm Employment: 2,900,000

The Indianapolis-Carmel job market also ranked the 15^th best by volume growth score among the largest major metropolitan areas, with an average 12-month change of 1.5 percent, and ranked 19^th out of all major U.S. metro job markets.

Columbus, Indiana also received the top score for the smaller U.S. Metro area with the most exceptional percentage-wise growth, with a 12-month change of 8.7 percent. Elkhart-Goshen, IN also ranked well in this category.

As an Indianapolis staffing agency, we at That’s Good HR are pleased to see that Indiana continues to experience job growth and a robust labor market.

Source: Staffing Industry Analysts: November 2012

* This analysis and ranking of growth trends was based on total nonfarm employment among the 393 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical areas, using figures through September 2012. Data surveyed included 150,000 businesses and government agencies, representing roughly 390,000 individual worksites.

HR Insights

Hiring Seasonal Employees

November 8, 2012

Many companies choose to hire temporary help toward the end of the year, to withstand the seasonal demand on their products or services. In many cases, companies use temporary workers to offset the time off or holiday pay that full-time or permanent workers receive. Seasonal or temporary staffing can help your business remain competitive, and will allow you to add staff with less risk than hiring for full-time positions.

When hiring seasonal staff, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Anticipate Demand: Before determining how much temporary help you’ll need, do a quick forecast of previous year-end seasons or annual trends to help you hire strategically.

2. Hire Early: To get the best seasonal applicants, you’ll want to start searching and recruiting well ahead of your anticipated need. This ensures you will have adequate time to advertise for the position, as well as to hire and train applicants.

3. Use a Temp Staffing Agency: Indianapolis temporary agencies like That’s Good HR that specialize in temporary staffing can help you find a greater pool of applicants for your seasonal employment demands. In addition, they can be a good resource if you don’t have time or resources for the hiring process. Staffing agencies can also post your position on the national or local job boards, assist with employment guidelines and even handle payroll for you.

4. Screen Applicants for Perfect Fit: Don’t just hire any temporary worker; consider the qualities important to the position and that would be the best fit for the team, and make sure those qualities appear in your job description, or that you communicate them to your temporary staffing agency.

5. Allow Time for Training: Especially if you are hiring for categories such as customer service, accounting or finance, you’ll want to allow plenty of time for your new, seasonal hires to learn the company culture, processes and customer service requirements at your firm.

6. Continue your Search Year-Round: Once you have a few, good temporary workers in your back pocket, you’ll be better equipped if you encounter a future demand throughout the rest of the year. In addition, you may find a few hidden gems that you want to hire on permanently.

HR Insights

7 Reasons Why your Company Should Use a Recruiter

October 31, 2012

At That’s Good HR, our clients trust us to find them the perfect candidate for the position they’re seeking, and time after time, we deliver on that promise. But perhaps your business has not used a recruiter before, and you’re a little apprehensive about whether or not it’s right for you. We’re here to give you a few good reasons why you should consider hiring a recruiter, in the hopes of changing your mind:

1. Recruiters are Experienced in Recruiting. Not to brag, but day in and day out, our Indianapolis staffing specialists are looking for qualified candidates for our client companies. We are skilled and organized when it comes to the hiring, screening and interviewing process for temporary, contract and permanent positions. So when it comes to finding the right person for the job, we’re the right person for the job.

2. Recruiters can Build Relationships. Because we recruit often, we have a large database of potential candidates from which we can recruit. This might be substantially larger than the contacts that you have built internally, so our resources might result in finding the better fit for your organization.

3. Recruiters have Resources. Our Indianapolis recruiters have the manpower and time required to devote to the hiring and recruiting process, whereas your CEO or hiring manager may have responsibilities in other areas of the business that may prevent him/her from fully engaging in the process.

4. Recruiters keep it Objective. Sometimes having an external company evaluate the open position from an objective, unbiased viewpoint can benefit the company – when it comes to the job description and responsibilities as well as negotiation and salary requirements. We have industry perspective and can help you find the best hire for the resources you have and ensure a fair market value.

5. Recruiters help you Hire Confidentially. If you choose, you can use a recruiter to confidentially hire for positions without the whole world knowing that you are hiring. This is especially important if you are hiring for a high-profile position or want to keep information away from competitors.

6. Recruiters Control the Paperwork. If the thought of emails and resumes flooding into your office doesn’t appeal to you, a recruiter can handle this for you. This can be a major benefit to employers who don’t want to deal with the distractions of sorting through resumes and cover letters to find qualified candidates.

7. Recruiters help you Compete. Hiring a recruiter can give your potential employees reinforces the importance of the open position, and of the company’s future growth. With many qualified job candidates out there, we’ll make sure you attract the best and brightest.

For those of you who have used a recruiter, can you think of any other good reasons? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

HR Insights

Trusting the Experts…….

October 18, 2012

As many of you know by now, my husband is a Police Officer and has been for 28 years. While on my way to work this week, I saw him pull over a vehicle which I was pretty certain had just run a red light. When I pulled up to the roundabout, I had to stop at the intersection and watch what was transpiring in front of me. He had his red and blue lights flashing but the car didn’t pull over right away and ended up driving to the next intersection, making a right turn and then pulling over on a two lane road. Once I was convinced that the vehicle had actually stopped and wasn’t trying to run, I continued my drive to work. I had to shake my head because I had observed this situation many times with him before. Essentially what happened is that instead of the driver pulling over when he turned on his lights (which was on the four lane road), the driver continued until she found a place that SHE felt was better suited for him to get out of his vehicle. I was also very aware of the earful that she was about to receive when he walked up to her vehicle and I am sure it went something like this, “When I turn on my lights, I expect you to pull over immediately. I know the place that is the safest for us both to pull our cars over.” Many people do exactly what she did. They wait to pull over until they find a spot they fell is best rather than pulling over ASAP after seeing the flashing lights.

This incident got me thinking, do I trust the experts in my personal life? When I hire a painter and am having difficulties deciding between two colors, do I ask his opinion or try to figure it out on my own? When my child is sick, do I call the doctor and talk to the nurse or do I try to figure it out on my own by searching symptoms on the internet?

As it relates to That’s Good HR and Indianapolis careers, do I feel like my clients treat me as the expert in Indianapolis job openings? I have to say that it makes me feel pretty good when a client asks me to name the candidate that I feel is the strongest for their opening. I have had two clients in the last couple of days ask me my opinion on that very topic and it was such a great feeling! I also appreciate when my client trusts me to handle the hiring process for their candidates. So, as one of the “experts” in this field, considering my 12 years in staffing, what advice do I have for hiring managers today? I have a couple of things to keep in mind but, first and foremost, I must stress that this is a candidate’s market!

Hiring managers need to move quickly when they have openings. The best candidates are not on the market very long because they are getting positions quickly; several companies want this candidate!
As a result, we are sending our best candidates to multiple hiring managers and/or companies so that we can immediately get those A+ candidates placed.
Since 2008, this year has been the most difficult in finding talented staff that aren’t working and ready to go to work tomorrow for a temporary position. We want to fill our openings but we don’t want to sacrifice quality as this is the number #1 reason our clients say they use That’s Good HR.

My goal is that each of the hiring managers I work with will trust me to be the expert in my field during this candidate’s market as I trust that you are in your field. Please keep in mind that I can help you with temp, temp to hire and direct hire opportunities in the area of Finance/Accounting, HR, Customer Service and Administration.

Staffing

Behind the Scenes of a Recruiting Firm

September 26, 2012

We thought it might be helpful for those of you who have never worked with a recruiter and may be considering hiring one for an open position, to learn a little bit more about our process. So we’d like to answer a few questions about how our recruiting firm works:

Who are we? That’s Good HR is an Indianapolis staffing firm that helps companies fill open positions in fields like accounting, finance, HR, and administrative positions. We hire for temporary, temp-to-hire, contract and executive positions.

How does the hiring process work? Typically, a company in our market (our client base is mainly Indianapolis but we also serve clients in other states) identifies their need for a specific position. The options for this position usually fit one of the following categories:

Temporary positions (for a company’s short-term or seasonal employment needs)
Contract positions (for a project or positions they want to try before they make a hire)
A permanent position (full-time employee or executive search)

The client calls us and gives us the “job order,” which can include anything from the job description to the candidate requirements, location, work hours, etc.

Armed with all of the necessary information, our team at That’s Good HR places job listings on behalf of the client, and then go out to match up the client’s needs with the candidates in our database. We begin calling and contacting candidates immediately upon receipt of the job order.

How do you find candidates? That’s Good HR fills our database through participating in job fairs as well as interviewing and recruiting potential candidates on a daily basis. We are constantly updating our records, adding new candidates every day. If we meet a candidate who is a great fit for one of our client positions, we set up a screening and interviewing process, which we hope will culminate in a successful hire.

What about temporary jobs? For our temporary or contract positions (which are the bulk of our Indianapolis jobs), That’s Good HR also hires the candidate on behalf of the client. This means that we handle all of the employment paperwork, including the W-2s and payroll, and the client is actually an employee of That’s Good HR. We send the client to work at the client site, and if the client wants to end the position for any reason, they simply call us, and we take care of the communication and paperwork with the employee on behalf of the client. In this case, we serve as an outsourced HR function for our Indianapolis clients.

So there you have it – a behind-the-scenes look at how That’s Good HR operates. Let us know if we can help you with any of your temporary or permanent staffing needs.

Job Advice

The Temporary Trend: Why Temporary and Contract Jobs Have Become the Norm

August 21, 2012

With a slowly recovering economy, employers have been cautiously hiring again. However, some companies have chosen to fill needed positions with temporary or contract/freelance talent, rather than full-time labor. According to some experts, this trend could become the new reality.

Without a single measurement of the number of individuals working on a contingency basis (The U.S. Department of Labor stopped tracking this figure in 2005 due to budget cuts), we can only speculate that the number is growing, based on the prevalence of temporary, contract and freelance positions available on job boards and the growth of the temporary staffing industry in Indiana and the United States.

At That’s Good HR, we recruit and interview potential temporary candidates all day, every day. Some of the reasons why we believe employers are hiring more contingent (i.e. freelance, temporary or contract workers) include:

To grow and hire without risk: If a company seeks to expand, hiring temporary staff during the expansion allows them to manage growth without the stigma of a reduction in force if the company’s growth does not continue. The company always has the option to hire those temporary workers permanently, if they choose, allowing them to determine whether the candidate is a good fit for full-time status.
To keep costs low: Contingent workers require less overhead with no sick or vacation days, retirement accounts or health coverage, so a company can boost its bottom line with a smaller full-time staff. At That’s Good HR, we handle our clients’ hiring process, for them, saving them time, as well as the cost of hiring (taxes and benefits) when they use our temporary staffing services.
To accommodate a flexible workforce: Many employees prefer to work part-time or to telecommute, so a temporary position is an ideal fit for these individuals. On the employer side, our clients often hire us to fill temporary positions for circumstances such as maternity leave, seasonal demand, or short-term projects. As an added benefit, employers who hire telecommuters or contract workers can reduce the amount of team office space needed to run the business.
To leverage a variety of skill sets: Rather than trying to find an employee who meets all of the skill and experience requirements of a given position or project, companies can fill that void with temporary or contract employees and sometimes get the job done more efficiently or effectively at a lower overall cost.

Benefits of Being a Temporary Worker:

For job candidates looking for full-time employment, the contingent workforce trend may seem discouraging on the surface. Many individuals have sought temporary or contract positions out of necessity, to supplement their incomes until finding a permanent job. While these people miss out on the stability of full-time employment, the option of temp or contract work can help them maintain their skill set and boost their resumes while in-between jobs. The temporary positions themselves offer greater flexibility, as well as the opportunity for future full-time employment with those companies.

At That’s Good HR, since we specialize in temporary staffing services in the Indianapolis area, we are excited about this employment trend, and we are ready to help both the employers and candidates find the ideal fit for their situation.

Staffing

Recruiting Recruiters

August 16, 2011

It is always exciting to work on placements that you feel you have a personal connection to. As recruiters, placing another recruiter in a job is almost like placing a friend or a peer. While we have been following the news about the economy and have closely reviewed the latest staffing statistics circulated by Staffing Industry Analyst, the climate in our office has been optimistic. We have seen an upswing in staffing needs on both a temporary and direct hire basis and most recently we have had a marked increase in requests for talent acquisition and recruiter candidates. When the need for these folks starts going up, that can only mean good things. You only need a recruiter when you need to recruit, right?

That said, here at That’s Good HR, we are pretty excited about the opportunity to recruit and place our own kind. These are positions that we understand above all because that is what we do everyday. While the recruitment categories might be different and the business model may vary from our own, at the end of the day, recruiters across all disciplines and industries have certain common threads. One of those traits is a high goal orientation so as a recruiter you know that the candidate you are placing is seeking an opportunity to grow and excel in their field.

If you are a recruiter, you know what I am referring to. If you know a recruiter, just ask them about it. Working with the human element day after day may seem to some uninteresting, but to recruiters, it is what we thrive upon. Meeting new people, working with them on one of the most important aspects of their lives – their career. Making the right match, staying in touch and networking along the way.

So…if you are one of these crazy recruiter folks, be sure to get to know us. If you are looking for your next more or you know someone who is, pick up the phone, send us an email, tweet us (@thatsgoodhr) or just show up. We would love to get to know you and perhaps be part of your next career move.

Staffing

Understanding the Employee / Employer relationship in staffing

June 30, 2011

If you currently staff any part of your organization with temporary employees, your staffing partner should be looking out for your best interests and providing guidance on how to properly manage that relationship. I consider my Indianapolis staffing relationships with my clients as a trusted partnership and therefore it is my responsibility to consistently communicate with you to reduce any risk for your organization. Here are some important tips to keep top of mind:

Let’s begin with the candidate selection process.

That’s Good HR reduces your risk by sending you candidates that closely match the compensation expectations for the position. For example, we would not present a candidate that has been making 40k previously to a position that is paying 20k. All compensation negotiations and discussions go through us so there is no confusion around who their employer is (co-employment risks)
We complete a criminal background check on every candidate that we place even if it is not required by your company. Again, this is our responsibility as the employer to ensure you are protected.
We make sure that our candidate is interested in the opportunity by giving them the client’s name before presenting their resume to the hiring manager (this may sound obvious, but the truth is, not all agencies tell the candidate the name of the company before they send their resume)

Next – the most important area of concern, once you have a contractor working for you.

The lines can get crossed once a temporary employee is on site and working for you. Here are some ways you can protect your organization from any confusion around this relationship:

My most important reminder: The contract employee is an employee of our company, not yours. This is important due to all of the legal responsibilities around the employee/employer relationship which reside with us. Our employee should have no reason to misunderstand that relationship. We are the experts in our field and we are here to help you.
All hiring and firing conversations must be handled by a That’s Good HR professional, not someone on your staff.
If our temporary employee is not meeting your productivity standards, all performance concerns should come through us and discussions with the employee about these concerns are conducted by us.
All attendance concerns should be communicated to us immediately. If we failed to inform you that our employee is going to be absent or tardy, that likely means we did know about it. While we make it very clear in our process, at times a temporary employee may forget and bypass communications with us (their employer) and only inform you (the customer) about time off. When this happens, please redirect them to us.
Ultimately all employment related issues should come through us including harassment, injury, pay, benefits etc. This is why we are cautious even about discussing an employee’s pay with you as the customer. The less involved you are in employment related decisions and information, the clearer the lines are in the employment relationship.

My pledge to you, my customer is this: I will do anything possible to reduce your co-employment risks. This list is just a summary of what we do behind the scenes to look out for you and as it is with any vendor relationship, your understanding is critical.

Co-employment is the term often used to refer to the relationship between staffing firms and their clients and to the legal issues that arise from that relationship. Click here for more information on co-employment. Questions about this post? Drop me a line or give me a call!