Staffing Industry Statistics

Staffing Industry Statistics:

Jobs

We're the jobs people. Staffing companies match millions of people to millions of jobs.

• 2.66 million people are employed by staffing companies every business day.
• 11.2 million temporary and contract employees are hired by U.S. staffing firms over the course of a year.
• 79% of staffing employees work full time, virtually the same as the rest of the work force.

Flexibility

The staffing industry offers flexibility to both employees and companies. People can choose when, where, and how they want to work. Companies can get the skills they need to keep fully staffed during busy times.

• 66% of staffing employees say flexible work time is important to them.
• 64% of staffing employees report that their work gives them the scheduling flexibility and the time for family that they desire.
• 90% of client businesses say staffing companies give them flexibility to keep fully staffed during busy times.

Bridge

Temporary and contract work provides a bridge to permanent employment. People can try out a prospective employer and showcase their skills for a permanent job.

• 88% of staffing employees say that temporary or contract work made them more employable.
• 77% of staffing employees say it’s a good way to obtain a permanent job.
• 80% of staffing clients say staffing firms offer a good way to find people who can become permanent employees.

Choice

Many people choose temporary and contract work as an employment option. They can select their work schedules and choose among a variety of diverse and challenging assignments.

• 67% of staffing employees say choice of assignments was an important factor in their job decision.
• 23% of staffing employees have little or no interest in a permanent job—they prefer the alternative arrangement over traditional employment.
• 33% of staffing employees say they work for a staffing company because they like the diversity and challenge of different jobs.

Training

The staffing industry provides free training for millions of temporary and contract employees to help meet today's demand for skilled workers.

• 90% of staffing companies provide free training to their temporary and contract employees.
• 65% of staffing employees say they developed new or improved work skills through their assignments.
• 40% of staffing employees say they choose temporary or contract work as a way to obtain employment experience or job training.

source: ASA

Difference between system programming and application programming

A little while ago a friend asked me what kind of programming I was interested in. I ended up explaining the difference between system programming and application programming:

In application programming programmers build applications. Application programs include websites, video games, iPhone applications, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Web browsers and other programs that people use for entertainment, communications, accessing information, organizing, and getting work done. Application software interacts with people or users.

Systems programming is creating technology that programmers use to build applications. In order for an applications programmer to build an application, he needs an operating system, a programming language, and other tools to get the application built, tested, and working.

System programming includes creating and working on:

operating systems database systems programming languages software libraries software that controls hardware very directly Software exists in layers. Application software runs on top of and interacts with system software. System software runs on top of and interacts with the physical hardware. Another way of looking at it: People make application software do work. Application software makes system software do work. System software makes the physical machine do work.

32 most important email etiquette tips

There are many etiquette guides and many different etiquette rules. Some rules will differ according to the nature of your business and the corporate culture. Below we list what we consider as the 32 most important email etiquette rules that apply to nearly all companies. The first rule of writing a good email is to KISS it and not to KILL it i.e. always Keep It Short and Simple and not to make it Long and Lengthy.

32 most important email etiquette tips:

1. Be concise and to the point
2. Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions
3. Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation
4. Make it personal
5. Use templates for frequently used responses
6. Answer swiftly
7. Do not attach unnecessary files
8. Use proper structure & layout
9. Do not overuse the high priority option
10. Do not write in CAPITALS
11. Don’t leave out the message thread
12. Add disclaimers to your emails
13. Read the email before you send it
14. Do not overuse Reply to All
15. Mailings > use the bcc: field or do a mail merge
16. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons
17. Be careful with formatting
18. Take care with rich text and HTML messages
19. Do not forward chain letters
20. Do not request delivery and read receipts
21. Do not ask to recall a message.
22. Do not copy a message or attachment without permission
23. Do not use email to discuss confidential information
24. Use a meaningful subject
25. Use active instead of passive
26. Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT
27. Avoid long sentences
28. Don’t send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks
29. Don’t forward virus hoaxes and chain letters
30. Keep your language gender neutral
31. Don’t reply to spam
32. Use cc: field sparingly

1. Be concise and to the point.

Do not make an e-mail longer than it needs to be. Remember that reading an e-mail is harder than reading printed communications and a long e-mail can be very discouraging to read.

2. Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions.

An email reply must answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions – If you do not answer all the questions in the original email, you will receive further e-mails regarding the unanswered questions, which will not only waste your time and your customer’s time but also cause considerable frustration. Moreover, if you are able to pre-empt relevant questions, your customer will be grateful and impressed with your efficient and thoughtful customer service. Imagine for instance that a customer sends you an email asking which credit cards you accept. Instead of just listing the credit card types, you can guess that their next question will be about how they can order, so you also include some order information and a URL to your order page. Customers will definitely appreciate this.

3. Use proper spelling, grammar & punctuation.

This is not only important because improper spelling, grammar and punctuation give a bad impression of your company, it is also important for conveying the message properly. E-mails with no full stops or commas are difficult to read and can sometimes even change the meaning of the text. And, if your program has a spell checking option, why not use it?

4. Make it personal.

Not only should the e-mail be personally addressed, it should also include personal i.e. customized content. For this reason auto replies are usually not very effective. However, templates can be used effectively in this way, see next tip.

5. Use templates for frequently used responses.

Some questions you get over and over again, such as directions to your office or how to subscribe to your newsletter. Save these texts as response templates and paste these into your message when you need them. You can save your templates in a Word document, or use pre-formatted emails. Even better is a tool such as ReplyMate for Outlook (allows you to use 10 templates for free).

6. Answer swiftly.

Customers send an e-mail because they wish to receive a quick response. If they did not want a quick response they would send a letter or a fax. Therefore, each e-mail should be replied to within at least 24 hours, and preferably within the same working day. If the email is complicated, just send an email back saying that you have received it and that you will get back to them. This will put the customer’s mind at rest and usually customers will then be very patient!

7. Do not attach unnecessary files.

By sending large attachments you can annoy customers and even bring down their e-mail system. Wherever possible try to compress attachments and only send attachments when they are productive. Moreover, you need to have a good virus scanner in place since your customers will not be very happy if you send them documents full of viruses!

8. Use proper structure & layout.

Since reading from a screen is more difficult than reading from paper, the structure and lay out is very important for e-mail messages. Use short paragraphs and blank lines between each paragraph. When making points, number them or mark each point as separate to keep the overview.

9. Do not overuse the high priority option.

We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf. If you overuse the high priority option, it will lose its function when you really need it. Moreover, even if a mail has high priority, your message will come across as slightly aggressive if you flag it as ‘high priority’.

10. Do not write in CAPITALS.

IF YOU WRITE IN CAPITALS IT SEEMS AS IF YOU ARE SHOUTING. This can be highly annoying and might trigger an unwanted response in the form of a flame mail. Therefore, try not to send any email text in capitals.

11. Don’t leave out the message thread.

When you reply to an email, you must include the original mail in your reply, in other words click ‘Reply’, instead of ‘New Mail’. Some people say that you must remove the previous message since this has already been sent and is therefore unnecessary. However, I could not agree less. If you receive many emails you obviously cannot remember each individual email. This means that a ‘threadless email’ will not provide enough information and you will have to spend a frustratingly long time to find out the context of the email in order to deal with it. Leaving the thread might take a fraction longer in download time, but it will save the recipient much more time and frustration in looking for the related emails in their inbox!

12. Add disclaimers to your emails.

It is important to add disclaimers to your internal and external mails, since this can help protect your company from liability. Consider the following scenario: an employee accidentally forwards a virus to a customer by email. The customer decides to sue your company for damages. If you add a disclaimer at the bottom of every external mail, saying that the recipient must check each email for viruses and that it cannot be held liable for any transmitted viruses, this will surely be of help to you in court (read more about email disclaimers). Another example: an employee sues the company for allowing a racist email to circulate the office. If your company has an email policy in place and adds an email disclaimer to every mail that states that employees are expressly required not to make defamatory statements, you have a good case of proving that the company did everything it could to prevent offensive emails.

13. Read the email before you send it.

A lot of people don’t bother to read an email before they send it out, as can be seen from the many spelling and grammar mistakes contained in emails. Apart from this, reading your email through the eyes of the recipient will help you send a more effective message and avoid misunderstandings and inappropriate comments.

14. Do not overuse Reply to All.

Only use Reply to All if you really need your message to be seen by each person who received the original message.

15. Mailings > use the Bcc: field or do a mail merge.

When sending an email mailing, some people place all the email addresses in the To: field. There are two drawbacks to this practice: (1) the recipient knows that you have sent the same message to a large number of recipients, and (2) you are publicizing someone else’s email address without their permission. One way to get round this is to place all addresses in the Bcc: field. However, the recipient will only see the address from the To: field in their email, so if this was empty, the To: field will be blank and this might look like spamming. You could include the mailing list email address in the To: field, or even better, if you have Microsoft Outlook and Word you can do a mail merge and create one message for each recipient. A mail merge also allows you to use fields in the message so that you can for instance address each recipient personally. For more information on how to do a Word mail merge, consult the Help in Word.

16. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons.

In business emails, try not to use abbreviations such as BTW (by the way) and LOL (laugh out loud). The recipient might not be aware of the meanings of the abbreviations and in business emails these are generally not appropriate. The same goes for emoticons, such as the smiley . If you are not sure whether your recipient knows what it means, it is better not to use it.

17. Be careful with formatting.

Remember that when you use formatting in your emails, the sender might not be able to view formatting, or might see different fonts than you had intended. When using colors, use a color that is easy to read on the background.

18. Take care with rich text and HTML messages.

Be aware that when you send an email in rich text or HTML format, the sender might only be able to receive plain text emails. If this is the case, the recipient will receive your message as a .txt attachment. Most email clients however, including Microsoft Outlook, are able to receive HTML and rich text messages.

19. Do not forward chain letters.

Do not forward chain letters. We can safely say that all of them are hoaxes. Just delete the letters as soon as you receive them.

20. Do not request delivery and read receipts.

This will almost always annoy your recipient before he or she has even read your message. Besides, it usually does not work anyway since the recipient could have blocked that function, or his/her software might not support it, so what is the use of using it? If you want to know whether an email was received it is better to ask the recipient to let you know if it was received.

21. Do not ask to recall a message.

Biggest chances are that your message has already been delivered and read. A recall request would look very silly in that case wouldn’t it? It is better just to send an email to say that you have made a mistake. This will look much more honest than trying to recall a message.

22. Do not copy a message or attachment without permission.

Do not copy a message or attachment belonging to another user without permission of the originator. If you do not ask permission first, you might be infringing on copyright laws.

23. Do not use email to discuss confidential information.

Sending an email is like sending a postcard. If you don’t want your email to be displayed on a bulletin board, don’t send it. Moreover, never make any libelous, sexist or racially discriminating comments in emails, even if they are meant to be a joke.

24. Use a meaningful subject.

Try to use a subject that is meaningful to the recipient as well as yourself. For instance, when you send an email to a company requesting information about a product, it is better to mention the actual name of the product, e.g. ‘Product A information’ than to just say ‘product information’ or the company’s name in the subject.

25. Use active instead of passive.

Try to use the active voice of a verb wherever possible. For instance, ‘We will process your order today’, sounds better than ‘Your order will be processed today’. The first sounds more personal, whereas the latter, especially when used frequently, sounds unnecessarily formal.

26. Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT.

Even more so than the high-priority option, you must at all times try to avoid these types of words in an email or subject line. Only use this if it is a really, really urgent or important message.

27. Avoid long sentences.

Try to keep your sentences to a maximum of 15-20 words. Email is meant to be a quick medium and requires a different kind of writing than letters. Also take care not to send emails that are too long. If a person receives an email that looks like a dissertation, chances are that they will not even attempt to read it!

28. Don’t send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks.

By sending or even just forwarding one libelous, or offensive remark in an email, you and your company can face court cases resulting in multi-million dollar penalties.

29. Don’t forward virus hoaxes and chain letters.

If you receive an email message warning you of a new unstoppable virus that will immediately delete everything from your computer, this is most probably a hoax. By forwarding hoaxes you use valuable bandwidth and sometimes virus hoaxes contain viruses themselves, by attaching a so-called file that will stop the dangerous virus. The same goes for chain letters that promise incredible riches or ask your help for a charitable cause. Even if the content seems to be bona fide, the senders are usually not. Since it is impossible to find out whether a chain letter is real or not, the best place for it is the recycle bin.

30. Keep your language gender neutral.

In this day and age, avoid using sexist language such as: ‘The user should add a signature by configuring his email program’. Apart from using he/she, you can also use the neutral gender: ”The user should add a signature by configuring the email program’.

31. Don’t reply to spam.

By replying to spam or by unsubscribing, you are confirming that your email address is ‘live’. Confirming this will only generate even more spam. Therefore, just hit the delete button or use email software to remove spam automatically.

32. Use cc: field sparingly.

Try not to use the cc: field unless the recipient in the cc: field knows why they are receiving a copy of the message. Using the cc: field can be confusing since the recipients might not know who is supposed to act on the message. Also, when responding to a cc: message, should you include the other recipient in the cc: field as well? This will depend on the situation. In general, do not include the person in the cc: field unless you have a particular reason for wanting this person to see your response. Again, make sure that this person will know why they are receiving a copy.

ADVICE - The Year Of The Meltdown

Google “Warren Buffet’s advice for 2009” and there are a lot of websites that have this piece of advice on them. I just couldn’t help sharing it with my readers. So here you go

We begin this New Year with dampened enthusiasm and dented optimism. Our happiness is diluted and our peace is threatened by the financial illness that has infected our families, organizations and nations. Everyone is desperate to find a remedy that will cure their financial illness and help them recover their financial health. They expect the financial experts to provide them with remedies, forgetting the fact that it is these experts who created this financial mess.

Every new year, I adopt a couple of old maxims as my beacons to guide my future. This self-prescribed therapy has ensured that with each passing year, I grow wiser and not older. This year, I invite you to tap into the financial wisdom of our elders along with me, and become financially wiser.

"Hard work" - All hard work bring a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
"Laziness" - A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.
"Earnings" - Never depend on a single source of income. [At least make your Investments get you second earning]
Spending - If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you need.
"Savings" - Don't save what is left after spending; Spend what is left after saving.
"Borrowings" - The borrower becomes the lender's slave.
"Accounting" - It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.
"Auditing" - Beware of little expenses; A small leak can sink a large ship.
"Risk-taking" - Never test the depth of the river with both feet. [ Have an alternate plan ready ]
"Investment" - Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

I'm certain that those who have already been practicing these principles remain financially healthy. I'm equally confident that those who resolve to start practicing these principles will quickly regain their financial health.

Let us become wiser and lead a happy, healthy, prosperous and peaceful life.

- Best Wishes / Satya Reddy
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"What are you doing today to change your tomorrow?"
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HE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second richest man who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!

2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

3. He still lives in the same small 3-bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, which he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence around it.

4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.

5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.

6. His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis. He has given his CEO's only two rules.
Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money.
Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

7. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch Television.

8. Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.

9. Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk. His advice to young people: 'Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself and Remember:

A. Money doesn't create man but it is the man who created money.

B. Live your life as simple as you can.

C. Don't do what others say, just listen to them, but do what you feel is good and right for you.

D. Don't go by brand name; just wear those things in which you feel comfortable and which you can easily afford.

E. Don't waste your money on unnecessary things; rather spend them on who really is in need.

F. After all, it's your life. Why give chance to others to rule your life?

Personal Responsibility

Personal Responsibility

The 10 most important words:
I won't wait for others to take the first step.

The 9 most important words:
If it is to be, it's up to me.

The 8 most important words:
If not me, who? If not now, when?

The 7 most important words:
Let me take a shot at it.

The 6 most important words:
I will not pass the buck.

The 5 most important words:
You can count on me.

The 4 most important words:
It IS my job!

The 3 most important words:
Just do it!

The 2 most important words:
I will.

The most important word:
Me

Be Your Own Boss (Entrepreneurs)

There are many advantages to being your own boss. You can make your own hours, spend more time with your family, avoid the morning commute and save money on gas, reduce your overhead and offer lower competitive rates, etc. There are also tax advantages: if your home is your place of business, you can right off part of your rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, repairs, etc. Entrepreneurship has become a growing trend that accounts for more than four million members of the US workforce each year. While it is truly part of the American Dream, being your own boss requires a lot of hard work and usually a good deal of overtime.

Here are some tips as you set out to become your own boss:

Write a business plan. The more extensive and detailed you are in the planning stages, the more likely you are to succeed. Most personal businesses fail within the first two years, and lack of a clear and realistic business strategy is often cited as the cause of failure. A well thought-out, professional business plan can also help attract investors to help you get your enterprise off the ground.
Save up. One of the risks of entrepreneurial endeavors is that they may not be a reliable source of income in the early stages. Saving up to create a financial cushion for at least the first six month is recommended. It's also best to put as little of your personal money into the startup costs as possible. A business loan is best, credit card debt is an option but the interest is extremely high, and family and friends may be a lost resort.

Hire people you trust. If your business requires you to hire workers, careful selection of staff can be the deciding factor in success. Using networking from previous jobs or other colleagues, seek out qualified performers to get the job done. The quality of the product is the entire business. Your client base is your livelihood. Satisfied clients are likely to become repeat customers and tell other potential clients about your work.

Track your progress. As an entrepreneur, you're not just your own boss. You're your own HR manager, accountant, administrative assistant, customer service representative, and all of the other jobs that comprise any other organization. Keeping detailed records of expenses, client information, profits, time spent on each project, etc. is the only way to control your business and make adjustments when necessary.

Practice time management. While you'll have more time in the day to get your work done, you'll also have other distractions. Setting aside blocks of time for work is essential, and may mean shutting off your phone to stay focused. While your schedule can be flexible, being successful will most likely require more than eight hours of work a day.

US Map

Before You Go For The Interview…

PREPARING FOR THE INTERVIEW

By asking only a few questions an interviewer can get a good idea of whether or not you are suitable for the position. The information you receive from us about the company and the work will help you to understand the background of the position for which you are being considered. Even more important is knowing yourself and being able to present that information to the client, your past achievements and your present strengths. The interviewer wants to understand these areas so he can determine how you will fit into the organization.

Your manners, social sense, and ability to speak clearly and directly count. You should dress appropriately and neatly, and pay attention to grooming.

Above all, listen carefully to the interviewer’s questions and take your time in answering. Don’t feel you have to be talking constantly. From time to time ask questions ourself to clarify the meaning of a question or to show appropriate interest.

Here are some basic questions that might be asked of you. The interviewer wants to get a sense not only of what you CAN do, but also what you WILL do. In answering any questions, look for ways to giving a correct but positive impression of yourself.

1. What have you been doing for the last six months (or the last year)?

The client already has your resume. He wants to hear you talk about your activities, the technical aspects of your last position(s), whether you prefer to work alone or are a team player, how you handle pressure and deadlines, etc. and he wants to see how you handle yourself. Be prepared to spend a few minutes discussing your assignment(s) for the last year or two. Respond with specific details and examples; avoid abrupt “yes” or “no” answers.

2. Why did you leave (do you want to leave) your last position?

If you left for a reason other than completion of the project, state your reasons honestly and simply. Do not give a long, detailed answer on the “wrongs” you found at the job.

3. What are your strengths? Weaknesses?

The ability to talk about your strengths is an indication of self-confidence. As for your weaknesses, it is probably accurate to say that none have been called to your attention that would prevent you from doing a good job in the position under consideration.

4. Tell me about yourself.

Before you answer, you can ask, “Which part of my experience would you like me to start with?” Then give a two-minute response that shows you to be a positive, enthusiastic person who can be of value to their company.

BE POISED. BE INTERESTED. BE DECISIVE. BE MODEST.

• Try to connect both with your sight and your thoughts
• Be strong, but not rude
• Don’t be mushy, but be like-able. The interviewer needs to like you in order to hire you regardless of your skills

Strategies: It's a good time to start a business. Really

Strategies: It's a good time to start a business. Really

Yes, I am very much aware of what's going on in the economy and the stock market. Yes, I know credit is tight, customers are cautious, the equity in your home is plummeting, and your 401(k) is more like a 201(k). Doesn't seem promising for starting a business, does it? But it is.

History bears me out. When times are bad for the economy, it can be a great time to start a business. In fact, 16 of the 30 companies that make up the Dow industrial average were started during a recession or depression. These include Procter & Gamble, Disney, Alcoa, McDonald's, General Electric and Johnson & Johnson.

Let's take a look at the years 1973-1975. At the time, the United States had an unpopular president, was in the midst of the Watergate scandal and was at the tail end of an extremely costly war that had divided the country. Gas prices jumped by nearly 50% in two years. Consumer confidence dropped to an all-time low.

It was a terrible time to start a business, right? Well, here are just a few of the companies started in those awful years of the early 1970's: Supercuts, Chilis, Cablevision, Industrial Light & Magic, Famous Amos cookies, Oakley and, oh, yes, a small company called Microsoft.

Why? What makes it possible for new companies to thrive when times are so bad? Why can it be a good time to launch out on your own?

First, there's a lower "opportunity cost." In good times, if you already have a safe job or the company down the street is hiring, starting your own business means giving up the opportunity of a good job. There's a cost to that: a salary, health insurance, other benefits.

Of course, if you have a good job or are offered a good job, I'm not telling you to quit to start your business now. But what happens if you lose your job or you're just finishing school and no one's hiring? There's little opportunity cost in hanging up your own shingle rather than staying home and watching a rerun of "The Simpsons" or Oprah.

OK, but that might just mean creating some income for yourself until you find a job. What actually makes it a good time to start the next Intuit, Whole Foods, J.Crew, Costco, or Applebee's (all launched during recessions)?

Here's what happens in bad times — disruption. Disruption means things change. And things often change quickly and dramatically. When things change, there are opportunities. And entrepreneurs seize opportunities — that's what makes them entrepreneurs.

Some of the things that are changing:

•Weakened competitors. It's likely that many of your competitors are facing tough times, tightening their belts, perhaps retiring or selling out. Hey, even many of the biggest companies are closing up shop.

•Customers seek cheaper alternatives. When times are good, customers are likely to stick with the suppliers they're used to — even if they're a more expensive alternative. Now, however, customers are looking around for cheaper alternatives to get the products and services they need.

•Big corporations cut back. They slash their marketing and reduce their services, especially to "smaller" customers who might be great customers for you.

•Loyalties loosen. As competitors reduce services to customers, and as customers look around for cheaper alternatives, it means they're less likely to be loyal even to longtime suppliers.

That means opportunities for you. Specifically, what you can do:

•Be the inexpensive alternative. Target customers who use more expensive options now.

•Market aggressively. As loyalties loosen, your competitors' customers are more willing to jump ship.

•Innovate. Come up with new solutions, especially less expensive ones, for customers' problems; they'll be in a more receptive mood.

•Present yourself as an outsource source for big corporations. You'll be less expensive than the in-house staff they're laying off.

•Hedge your offerings by also having products and services that are counter-cyclical.

•Expand. See if you can acquire some of your weakened competitors.

In a world of good times, customers are happy, with the attitude that "if it ain't broke, why fix it?" But suddenly, things are broke — and they need fixing. You can be the fixer. Rhonda Abrams USATODAY

Types of Interviews

Screening Interview: Screening interviews are typically conducted over the phone or via video conferencing but can also be completed in person. During screening interviews, the employer wants to make sure you have the proper requirements for the job and that you have
good communication skills. These are often used to assist the employer in narrowing down the candidate pool.

Telephone Interview: The first step in the hiring process is usually a telephone interview. Typically, the telephone interview will be your first contact with a company.
Take note of the following guidelines prior to your interview:

• Work with your recruiter/hiring manager to set up a specific time for the call.
• Smile when you are speaking, it does make a difference.
• Be fully prepared and avoid environments that preclude having an effective interview.
• Avoid using portable or cellular phones for the interview.
• Since you cannot see nonverbal queues, you may ask “does that answer your question”
• after a response.
• Do NOT interrupt your interview to answer an incoming call.
• Have a cup of water, research notes, and your interview prep sheet in front of you.
• Only 85-90% of your energy comes through the phone versus in person. Be sure to
• display the necessary enthusiasm.

Personal Interview: Personal interviews are your opportunity to make a lasting and positive impression while differentiating yourself from others.
There are several types of personal interviews that you may encounter:

1. Case-based Interview - The case interview is often employed by management-consulting firms and investment banking companies, but it is increasingly being used by a wide range of other types of corporations as a portion of the job interviewing process.When the case interview is used, it is most likely to be a feature of the second or third round of interviewing, but a small verbal case can even be part of an initial screening interview. Through the use of the case study, businesses hope to discern how well candidates identify structure, and think through business problems. Therefore, how you go about dissecting the cases may be more important than the specific content of your answers. It is often helpful foryou to do a little “thinking out loud” because it allows the interviewer to experience yourthought processes.
2. Lunch or Dinner Interview - Interviews during a meal are used to assess your social skills and ability to be comfortable under pressure. Be sure to order food that does not consist of a large portion and is easy to eat. Never order alcoholic beverages even if others at the table do. See the career brief on Dining Etiquette.
3. One-on-One Interview - This is the most common type of interview used by managers. Be sure to maintain good eyecontact. Ask the interviewer about the most pressing issues facing the organization and try to have strategies and solutions to overcome them and/or show your interest in being part of the solution.
4. Peer Group Interview - Employers often like for you to meet with your potential co-workers. Peer Groups are often looking for individuals that have a personality that they feel will fit into their environment. Be polite and agreeable during these interviews; peers typically have a solid influence on the final decision.
5. Selection Committee - Selection committees have become more and more common during the interview process. It is important to have extra copies of yourresume with you in preparation for a group of three or more interviewers. Be sure to shake hands with each person in the room while introducing yourself before you sit down. Move your eyes around the room to each individual while answering questions to include all present.
   

Don’t Fire Your Recruiters Just When the Recovery is About to Begin

Hiring will start to recover in Q2, 2009, and now is the time to rebuild your recruiting team and massively upgrade your sourcing and hiring processes.

If you’re still considering cutbacks in your recruiting staff, think again. Recruiting top people is a repeatable sales process that’s fundamentally different than hiring average people. Instead of cutting back, replace the underperformers with people who can sell complex intangibles and services, those who can learn solution selling, and those who have demonstrated they can follow a realistic sales process including meeting quotas and being managed by the numbers.

Forget the Lone Rangers and those experienced recruiters who have not gotten significantly better over the past two years. Hiring top people is a business process, equivalent to selling your firm’s products and services. Now is the time to start implementing new training programs and changing your outdated pre-recession recruiting processes.

The amount of stimulus Obama, Bernanke, and Paulson/Geitner have already induced and are planning to induce into our economy system will jumpstart the recovery faster than can be imagined. So get ready to rumble. The best people are now sitting on the sidelines waiting for some reason to think about the future, rather than holding onto the past. (Take our annual recruiting challenges survey if you want some instant insight on what’s happening.)

Instead of minor changes and improvements, I’m going to suggest a wholesale rebuilding of your recruiting department is in order. This will give you a chance to hire the best people as soon as there is evidence the economy is changing direction. So starting with a fresh clean slate, here are three things you should be doing right now to get ready for the upcoming hiring recovery.

Set up a forward-looking workforce forecasting system. This is a quickie version of a workforce plan, but used more for predicting when hiring will come back in force, rather than a full forecast of all hiring needs. To prepare this, have your line managers forecast their hiring needs by quarter for the next 12 months for just your biggest needs. This could be all of your highest volume hires or those who are critically important to your business. Select job classes that drive your business and have some predictive power to reflect all of your job needs. Have your managers update this forecast every quarter or whenever they see a big change in upcoming requirements up or down. If you add some analytical rigor to these forecasts, rather than just rely on intuition, these changes will be meaningful and provide an early-warning signal that something big is about to happen. Most people don’t realize that forecasts are as much about improving communications throughout a company as for having reasonable numbers for planning purposes. Regardless, having a 90-day headstart on the competition will allow you to see and hire more of the best people, especially those now in the starting blocks just waiting for the gun to fire.

Create talent communities. These are talent hubs on steroids. A talent hub is a creative micro-site designed to be found by a group of people (e.g., developers, engineers, Gen Ys, retirees) who are on the margin — i.e., not actively looking, but open-minded. These people become prospects for your future opportunities, so you need to provide some incentive for them to give you basic bio data. These prospects then need to be nurtured along using some type of robust CRM (candidate/customer relationship management) system until something exciting pops up. Reporting is minimal since these people are not yet candidates for a specific job. The steroids bit has to do with the degree of automation, amount of regular contact in the form of emails and the variety of touch points, like video, RSS feeds, and chat features.

Build a team of great recruiters. The best people are more discriminating. Technology can help you separate the good from the bad (one example: search on award terms), but you need to be a good recruiter to convince the best that your job is worthy of serious consideration. Without good recruiters you’ll just be hiring the above average; that’s why a serious investment in upgrading and training your recruiting team is absolutely critical. In my mind a good recruiter applies applicant control at every step in the process, understands real job needs, and uses solution selling to position each job as a career opportunity, not a compensation move. (Here’s a quick recruiter test: if candidates frequently say they’re not interested in what you have to offer anytime in the hiring process from first call to final close, you don’t have applicant control. Recruiters who use applicant control switch roles and determine if they’re interested in the candidate at these points.) Applicant control is less important and easier to maintain when you’re dealing with an average or above-average candidate, but essential when dealing with a top performer. That’s why a well-trained recruiting team is critical if you want to consistently hire the best.

The first six months of the recovery will be a free for all. If you do nothing different, you’ll find a few good people and a few above-average people. But if you make wholesale changes in how you source and upgrade the quality of your recruiting team, you’ll dramatically increase the number of top people you hire who you previously would have lost. Even better, if you set up a predictive workforce forecasting system, you’ll know 60-90 days ahead of everyone else when the recovery in your industry is ready to begin. Start now and get the best people into your prospect database. Before you know it, you’ll be hiring great people every time. However, if you wait to read about the recovery, it will be too late. source: Lou Adler