When an interviewer asks you about yourself, he or she doesn’t necessarily want to know where you were born, what your hobbies are or a laundry list of your job skills.  In reality this is an extremely important question.  Interviewers ask it for a number of reasons:

• To get a sense of what you feel is most important about yourself;
• To see how well you’ve prepared for the interview; or
• To find out why you think you’re the best candidate for the job.

There is a lot riding on your response to this question, so make sure you knock it out of the park.  Here are a few quick tips for answering the “tell me about yourself” interview question the right way:

• Be brief.  Keep the answer short – no more than two to three minutes.
• Practice, practice, practice.  Write your answer out, then rehearse it until it’s second nature. 
• Cite examples.  When you develop your answer, include one or two examples that best demonstrate why you’re well-qualified for the available postition.

 Take advantage of your time in the driver’s seat by selling yourself, creating a great first impression and setting a positive tone for the rest of the interview.

Still not sure how to answer this all important question?  Then participating in the December 1 (2 pm) ”Don’t Interview — Audition” is a must do. To register, login to ABR JobConnect and click on the WEBINAR Tab. Then click on the Event and register by clicking the Webinar registration link for each event listed.

Here are some common “aches and pains” you may face at work, and ABR’s prescriptions for using on-time staffing to cure them:

1. High fixed expenses. Bring in expertise on an as-needed basis.  On-time employees with specialized abilities can deliver the experience and skills you need without impacting fixed expenses.  If your business faces an unknown future, consider using on-time staff to keep your workforce lean and flexible.
2. Wasting time on non-critical activities.  Free up your employees’ time to focus on core competencies.
3. Paying benefits.  Limit your benefits expense by using on-time workers.
4. Meeting tight deadlines.  Bring in on-time employees – even at the last minute – to help you complete projects within tight time and budgetary constraints.
5. Bad hires. Let a staffing service assume this risk for you.  If you need a direct employee, use try-before-hire staffing and evaluate the candidate on the job before making a final hiring decision.
6. Training. Reduce training costs and shorten learning curves by bringing in on-time employees who are trained and have experience using the skills you need.
7. Turnover. When you use on-time employees in high turnover positions, the burden for replacing those workers (e.g., recruiting, training, etc.) is on the staffing service’s shoulders.
8. Seasonal crunch-time. If your business has predictable surges in demand, planned staffing may be right for your business.  With a staffing specialist’s help, you can analyze your business cycles and plan your staffing needs.  Then, during your busy periods, you can staff-up with on-time employees to supply the extra help needed to get work done.  As an added benefit, planned staffing can reduce layoffs.  When things slow down, you can let on-time staff go and hold onto your core employees.
9. Overtime. Use on-time help to avoid paying higher overtime rates and eliminate the employee burnout overwork causes.
10. Lack of expertise.  Bring in on-time or contract executives, professionals or technical gurus to teach new skills to employees in your organization.  Use their expertise on a short-term basis to complete a special project, or until your core employees have learned the new skills needed.

No panacea exists for every challenge you face on the job.  But for headaches like the ones listed above, ABR Employment Services’ complete staffing and HR solutions for Wisconsin employers are just what the doctor ordered.

This is one of the questions posed in a poll by the Society for Human Resource Management titled “Challenges Facing Organizations and HR in the Next 10 Years.” The survey responses, gathered from 449 HR professionals, show that:

Getting and Making the Most of Human Capital is a Key Priority

• Nearly half of the respondents (47 percent) cite obtaining human capital and optimizing human capital investments as the top investment challenge for businesses over the next 10 years.
• 29 percent of the respondents list obtaining financial capital and optimizing financial capital investments as the top challenge.
• Obtaining intellectual capital and optimizing intellectual capital investments comes in third at 12 percent.

To attract, retain and reward the best talent, organizations should:

• allow flexible work arrangements. According to 58 percent of HR managers surveyed, providing flexibility for employees to balance their life and work responsibilities is the most effective way to attract, reward and retain top performers.
• cultivate a culture of trust and fairness. 47 percent of respondents say that creating an organizational culture where trust, open communications and fairness are emphasized and demonstrated by leaders is a key priority.
• provide meaningful work opportunities. 40 percent of HR managers say that designing jobs to provide employees with meaningful work that has a clear purpose in meeting the organization’s objectives optimizes the organization’s ability to engage and keep top talent.
• demonstrate a commitment to employee development (29 percent).
• offer a higher total compensation and benefits package than organizations that compete for the same talent (23 percent).

While these survey results aren’t earth-shaking, they do serve to underscore an important point.  As businesses like yours emerge from the recession, they should get ready to compete for talent.

ABR Employment Services can help you prepare.  Whether you are looking for that “needle in a haystack” employee or a complete human capital management solution, ABR has the resources to assist you and your organization.  Contact us today to learn more about our full complement of staffing, placement and HR solutions for Wisconsin employers.

Most people regard on-time work as a means to earn extra cash, maintain a flexible work schedule, gain work experience or fill employment gaps.  Did you know, however, that on-time employment can also be a great option if you’re looking to change careers?

With a broad range of assignments and projects available, on-time (temporary) employment can be a highly effective way for you to break into a new field – but it probably won’t happen by accident.  To use on-time employment as a true career change catalyst, you must intentionally structure your work experiences.  Here are a few tips:

Choose the right type of staffing service for your career interests. Before registering with a staffing service, visit their website or contact the office directly to find out what types of placements they specialize in.  Some staffing firms place people in a wide range of industries and positions, while others specialize in a specific field.

Be upfront with your staffing specialist. When you interview with a recruiter, let him know that you are looking to change careers.  Tell him about your skills and experience and ask how they might transfer into a new field.  Discuss your need for challenging assignments that will help you try out different jobs, develop new skills and evaluate new career options.  When a staffing specialist understands your needs, he can do a better job placing you in opportunities that will drive your career change.

Treat every assignment as a learning experience. In addition to performing your required job duties, use each assignment as an opportunity to learn about the employer, the industry and potential career opportunities.  Ask questions, observe co-workers, talk to your supervisor and let him know that you’re looking to make a change.  Take as much knowledge and experience away from each assignment as you can.

Build new skills while on assignment. Many staffing services offer free skills training (such as ABR’s E-AssessAbility Training Center) to individuals who register with them.  While on assignment, use non-work hours to take advantage of training resources, building skills that will help you in your next career.

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Tips for Managing Career Changes

If the thought of changing jobs and/or careers causes you anxiety, you’re not alone.  The truth is, there is a certain amount of instability inherent in changing jobs.  Here are a few suggestions to help you manage the stress:

Focus on developing your skills. Choose projects/assignments/jobs that help you build new skills and develop expertise in a certain area.  When your learning curve flattens out, ask to be reassigned or look for another opportunity.  Continually building your skills will ensure you’re in demand.

Adopt a job changing mindset. Instead of focusing on the instability of a job change, view it as an opportunity.  Get used to the notion that you will change jobs frequently throughout your career.  When it’s time to make a move, your job changing mindset will make the transition much easier.

Keep your job changing skills sharp. You’re not going to stay at any job forever, and you don’t know how long it will last.  But if you keep your job hunting skills sharp – networking, interviewing, keeping on top of on-time opportunities that serve your career interests – you will always be able to get work when your needs, or your company’s needs, change.

ABR Employment Services – Your Career Change Partner

At ABR Employment Services, we do more than just place you in a position.  We listen to your needs, learn about your skills and experience, and then present you with work opportunities that are a perfect match for you.

When you register with us, you can also take advantage ABR JobConnect™, our FREE career resource, to help guide and support you in your job search.  Simply put, if you’re looking to make a job change, ABR is the ideal partner.  Contact us today to learn more about job opportunities in Wisconsin.

Employers use credit reports as a screening tool for a number of reasons:

• They believe it allows them to predict future behavior based on a candidate’s financial history.
• They are trying to prevent employee theft and assess the applicant’s trustworthiness.
• They want to reduce legal liability and negligent hiring.

But checking a job applicant’s credit is not without its potential drawbacks:

• An applicant who has been unemployed for a long period of time may have no choice but to incur inordinate amounts of debt and fall behind in paying bills.  If candidates have been out of work for months, that doesn’t necessarily mean they should be disqualified for employment.
• Credit reports fail to provide context.  For example, if debt problems were the result of expensive medical procedures, a low credit score may not indicate anything about future job performance.
• Credit reports are not perfect.  Ambiguous, dated, inaccurate and/or redundant data create the potential for credit score errors.  While these errors are generally minor, employers should be aware that they exist.
• Credit reports may not be relevant for the job in question.  Unless the person you’re hiring will have access to sensitive financial information, make financial decisions or handle money, a candidate’s credit report may be of little significance.

Checking a job candidate’s credit can be a viable screening option. But, is it the best option for your business? It is important to weigh the points above to determine if credit checks are relevant to your specific needs. Ultimately, a comprehensive screening strategy can be the most effective way to avoid bad hires.

Ensure Successful Placements with ABR’s Six-Point Screening Process

ABR Employment Services follows an in-depth candidate screening process. Our comprehensive process provides a more thorough check, helping us provide a more well-rounded picture of candidates than you’ll find across most of the staffing industry. Our six-point process includes:

1. Pre-screen. We pre-screen potential candidates to ensure their experience and interests match those of potential employers.
2. Application. Our in-depth application captures vital employment information, including job skills, reasons for leaving prior jobs, supervisors’ contact information, etc.
3. Interview. ABR uses behavioral interview questions to ensure candidates meet our Expectations of Excellence and will fit well with your current culture.  If requested, we can also perform second interviews with questions specific to your available position.
4. Testing. Our E-AssessAbility is a powerful online assessment solution that helps us determine whether or not a candidate possesses the specific skills you require.
5. Referencing. All ABR candidates must provide one positive reference for any on-time position and two or more for all try-before-hire or direct hire positions.
6. Background Checking. ABR customizes all of our background checking to your needs and company.  We have the ability to complete state or nationwide backgrounds, drug screenings, educational verifications, driver’s checks and credit checks.

In today’s economy, businesses need to do everything possible to maximize the R-E=P equation.  And if your company is like most, your employment-related expenses are among the biggest line items on your company’s P & L.  The more actively you manage these expenses, the more profitable you can become.

Of course, driving profits is about more than just cutting costs.  It’s also about maximizing workforce productivity and effectively matching your human resources to the changing challenges and opportunities your business faces.  Used properly, staffing services can play a vital role in achieving all these ends.  Here are just a few ways on-time (temporary) employees can drive profits in your organization:

• Stay lean and flexible. Design a strategic staffing strategy that limits core employment to that necessary for minimum production volumes.  Staff up with skilled on-time employees to meet peak demand periods or sudden surges in business.
• Focus on core activities. A staffing professional can help you critically examine work flow processes in your organization to identify administrative, repetitive or other support tasks that are being performed by highly compensated employees.  Bring in on-time staff to take over these tasks and free valuable team members to focus on their most vital priorities.
• Lower employment-related costs due to turnover. Take a look at your hiring and termination costs by job functions.  Determine where high turnover positions exist and re-staff with on-time employees (temporaries) to reduce hiring, training and termination costs.
• Reduce overtime expenses.  Work with your staffing representative to analyze your overtime expenditures.  Look for opportunities to use on-time staffing instead of overtime to reduce labor costs and prevent employee burnout.
• Shorten learning curves. As your company incorporates new technologies, bring in contract technical professionals to support your project teams.  They can help get your employees up-to-speed and productive more quickly, saving time and money in the process.  Once training is done, so are your training expenses.
• Capitalize on new opportunities. Have you ever had to table a great idea, simply because you didn’t have the resources to work on it?  For those times, consider supplementing your team with on-time and/or contract employees.  From support staff to senior executives, highly qualified specialists can be brought in to either manage the execution of new ideas or support your internal team while they work on the new opportunities.

ABR Employment Services – Driving Profits for Wisconsin Employers

Need to aggressively manage staffing expenses?  Looking for new ways to increase productivity?  Have a great business idea, but lack the human resources to turn it into a reality?  Contact ABR Employment today.  We have the knowledge, business expertise and highly skilled candidates you need to Comprehend, Fulfill and Achieve your business goals.

The ASA Staffing Index, developed by the American Staffing Association, provides a current measure of staffing industry employment trends.  Published weekly, the index estimates the weekly changes in the number of people employed in on-time (temporary) and contract work.

Index numbers are reported just nine days after each work week ends, making it a virtual real-time measure of staffing employment trends.  ASA research shows that staffing employment is a coincident economic indicator and leading employment indicator – especially when the economy is emerging from a recession – making the index especially relevant right now for businesses across the nation.

The ASA Staffing Index also serves as a valuable resource for economists, journalists, analysts, researchers and policy makers who are interested in current trends in staffing employment.  Participants account for more than one-third of industry sales offices.

Two numbers are reported weekly.  The first is the weekly percentage change in staffing employment.  The second is the index itself, which shows staffing employment trends over time.  Both numbers are normally posted on the ASA web site on Tuesday mornings.

This Week’s Staffing Index:

Follow this link to view current ASA Staffing Index data.

Monthly Report – April 2011

Staffing employment in April is 7% higher than in the same month last year, according to the ASA Staffing Index.  The index for April is 92, up one index point from 91 in March, suggesting that U.S. staffing employment has increased 1% over the past month.  Staffing employment is typically lowest during the first few months of each year and grows during the subsequent months.

ABR Employment Services – In-Step with Wisconsin Employers’ Changing Needs

ABR Employment Services delivers customized direct hire, on-time, strategic and management staffing solutions to help companies like yours achieve sustained business success as the economy recovers.  What can we do for you?  Contact ABR Employment today.

• Attract the best candidates. Today’s job seekers are savvy.  Most know to choose a reputable staffing firm that provides extras like insurance, vacation pay and free online job search assistance (see below).  ABR Employment’s value-added services help us attract, recruit and retain Wisconsin’s top talent – and put them to work for you.
• Keep the best candidates. Some staffing services are plagued by extremely high turnover rates, which translate into a “revolving door” of temporaries for their clients.  The benefits, value-added services and free online career resources (via ABR JobConnect) we provide not only attract top candidates, but keep them working for us.  When on-time employees stay with us, they’re much more likely to stay working for you, delivering greater continuity throughout your assignments.
• Ensure workers stay healthy, focused and productive. The medical and dental benefits we offer allow our employees to take care of their health issues, while available disability and life insurance options give them peace of mind.  Our employees can also qualify for vacation and holiday pay, motivating them to earn the time off they deserve.  When employees are healthier and happier, they have better attendance records and stay more focused on the work they do for you.
• Access highly skilled workers. Free online computer training allows employees to develop their software skills – improving their confidence, proficiency and value to your organization.
• View a complete list of our employee benefits.

About ABR JobConnect

ABR JobConnect is our free online career resource that guides and supports job seekers throughout the entire job search process.  To the best of our knowledge, the majority of our competitors do not have this capability.  For example:

• Kelly Services only offers a monthly career tips newsletter to job seekers.
• Manpower only offers online training to registered on-time staffing employees.
• Aerotek only offers articles, videos and question-and-answer material to job seekers.

ABR strives to treat all job seekers with dignity and respect, and ABR JobConnect supports our mission to do that.  For example, if a candidate does not meet the ABR “Expectations of Excellence,” or if we are unable to place him, we can refer him to ABR JobConnect for job search support and assistance.

We invite you to refer the job seekers that do not fit your current hiring needs to ABR JobConnect.  ABR JobConnect helps your HR department and hiring managers:

• Eliminate the call backs from people you don’t hire.
• Position you as an altruistic company.
• Help all job applicants.
• Provide a resource for laid off or downsized employees.

ABR Employee Benefits – The Right Thing to Do

The economy is still tough and we realize that many people who come to us have lost their jobs and health benefits, too.  Admittedly, ABR offers benefits to gain a recruiting advantage and deliver the best results for our clients.  But honestly, the main reason we do it is because it’s just the right thing to do.

• 93 percent of Americans believe that a company should have a presence on social media sites.
• 85 percent believe that these companies should use social media to interact with consumers.
• 60 percent of Americans regularly interact with companies on social media sites.

The truth is, social media can help expand your business network, enhance your career, recruit employees and more.

According to HR expert Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide, HR professionals need to participate in social media for career success – and she should know.  She is a management and organization development consultant who specializes in human resources issues and in management development to create forward-thinking workplaces.  Susan is also a professional facilitator, speaker, trainer and writer.

Heathfield’s About.com article “10 Reasons Social Media Should Rock Your World” details the rationale behind making social media time investment mandatory for every HR professional:

1. Stay in touch with colleagues and friends. Social media makes it easier than ever to re-connect with former colleagues, classmates, teachers and other professional contacts.
2. Make it easy for others to find you. Maintain both individual and company profiles to make it simple and convenient for customers, employees and candidates to reach you.
   
3. Find potential job candidates. For example, you can e-mail social media contacts with job requirements and ask them for referrals.
4. Investigate potential career opportunities. If you’re interested in finding a new job, social media sites like LinkedIn can be invaluable in your search.  You can use the site to network, garner recommendations and learn about new job openings.
5. Establish your online brand. You can use social media to promote your career progress by establishing an online presence that defines who you are professionally and what you want to be known for accomplishing.
6. Join groups that share your professional interests. As a group member you can give and get information about recommended reading, industry trade shows or other professional meetings/events.
7. Develop social connections. Sites like Facebook are rapidly gaining mature professional members.  Unlike LinkedIn, Facebook is ideally suited to having fun and developing social contacts over time.  A word of caution:  carefully manage your Privacy Settings and critically examine content – before you post or upload – to make sure it’s compatible with your professional image.
8. Provide a space in which users of your products/services can interact with you. Use social media to expand your customers’ opportunities to discuss their wants and needs – with you or with other customers.
9. Build community around your products or services. The people who are the “face” of your company should leverage social media opportunities to build relationships with consumers.  Forums and blogs on your company website (and within your HR Intranet), as well as fan pages, can help you build this sense of community.
10. Finally your company, in addition to individual employees, should establish a company presence on major social media sites to stay in step with the changing interests and needs of consumers.  The Internet has opened up worldwide communication.  Why not use its social media components to make you and your company more successful?

ABR Employment – Leveraging Social Media for Recruiting Success

ABR Employment Services posts available on-time (temporary), contract and direct hire jobs on Facebook and Twitter.  We leverage social media including LinkedIn to locate talented, experienced and hard-working individuals for Wisconsin employers like you.  How are you using social media in your job?  We’d love to know.  Leave your comments below.

The first, a recent Survey on Workplace Flexibility from WorldatWork, found that:

• The vast majority (98 percent) of U.S. employers offer at least one workplace flexibility program.
• The most prevalent programs include flex-time (flexible start/stop times), part-time schedules and teleworking on an ad hoc basis (to meet a repair person, care for a sick child, etc.).
• The way these programs are administered varies.  Nearly 60 percent of these companies take an informal approach to the concept  – leaving program development and administration up to managers’ discretion, or offering flexible work options without written policies or forms.
• Furthermore, most U.S. organizations (79 percent) that offer flexibility programs do not provide training to the managers of employees using these programs.

This study also found that:

• A stronger culture of flexibility correlates with a lower voluntary turnover rate.
• A majority of employers report that workplace flexibility positively impacts employee satisfaction, motivation and engagement.

The second report, Workplace Flexibility and Low-Wage Employees, was released in February 2011.  This report analyzed data from the nonprofit Families and Work Institute’s National Study of the Changing Workforce.  For the purposes of this study, low-wage employees were defined as those earning less than $12.82 per hour (which accounts for a little more than one-third of the U.S. workforce).  Here are some of the key findings:

• Workplace flexibility correlates positively with:  overall job satisfaction, degree of engagement, degree to which home life interferes with job performance, physical health, mental health and likelihood of remaining with current employer.  The prevalence of each of these outcomes is higher (regardless of income) when employers offer more workplace flexibility.
• Regardless of wages earned, workers are equally pressed for time in their personal lives – and place equal value on having a flexible workplace.
• Low-wage employees are just as likely to have responsibilities for children and elders.  But because they have fewer financial resources to meet these responsibilities, having job flexibility may be even more important.

What can we learn from these studies?

• Workplace flexibility produces a host of benefits, including increased employee engagement, satisfaction, motivation, retention and productivity.
• A comprehensive workplace flexibility program can be an effective recruiting and retention tool, providing a real source of competitive advantage for your company.  Offering flexibility options that matter to employees, and featuring those options when recruiting talent, can help you distinguish your company as an employer-of-choice.
• When it comes to workplace flexibility, it’s not about the quantity or formality of the programs you offer.  It’s about how well supported and implemented those programs are across your organization.  To be successful, managers must understand the real value these programs bring and be properly trained to administer them.
• Workplace flexibility is here to stay.  As organizations continue to evolve, workplace flexibility will eventually become the new normal – an accepted and expected part of how all organizations operate.

In March, 2011, ABR Employment Services conducted a survey of our supplemental staffing workforce.  When we asked respondents to rank the importance of the benefits they receive, nearly half (48.7 percent) of supplemental staff stated that a flexible work schedule was important to them.  We understand the important role workplace flexibility plays in your organization, and can provide on-time (temporary) and supplemental staff to increase flexibility for your employees.

What can ABR Employment do for you?  Contact us today.