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Thursday, April 15, 2010
In Our Busy, High-Tech World; Communication Reigns as King
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We’ve all seen the reports that employers are signaling plans to increase hiring in 2010. In fact, there’s a renewed sense of optimism out there that’s invigorating. According to CareerBuilder and USA TODAY’S latest nationwide survey of employers, 23 percent plan to increase their headcount in the second quarter, with more than 1/3 of that increase predicted to be in IT-related jobs. And with reports that rapid technology growth is one of the top five trends impacting the job market over the next 10 years—the tables are turning for those of us in IT.
With the economy poised to turn around, there are many things that have to happen to be ready to meet the needs of this changing climate. But what we have determined to be a critical component—in fact the foundation of all of our work—is strong communication. It’s one of the most critical pieces in everything we do.
I realize “communication” is a fairly broad term. What I’d like to share with you here are three simple tips we’ve found to be most helpful in ensuring top-notch communication with our clients and candidates; ultimately leading to a successful working relationship all the way around.
1. Commit to open communication. We have found that open, back-and-forth dialogue is so important. Be up front about this expectation at the beginning of an engagement. For companies hiring—share all details of a position right away. If you think there’s an aspect of the job that won’t be attractive, don’t wait until the 11th hour to share it. Knowing everything up front is critical. If you’re looking for a job, be honest with your preferences. Sometimes it’s the simple things like the hours of an opportunity or the commute that become major factors in a decision. Knowing all details on both sides of the table can avoid common experiences like these:
• “I would have taken that position if it were for $10,000 more”; or
• “The candidate we’re looking for also needs to have XX skill set,”; or
• “The commute is too long—I am only willing to drive 30 minutes to and from work.” 2. Determine the best mode of communication. There are many tools for communication these days, so determining preferences will save time and create a smoother process. Is your preference e-mail? Text or instant messaging? Cell phone? All of the above? Knowing how to reach your contact is important, especially during a time when people expect instantaneous feedback. 3. Remember relationships are important. The irony of communication is that while it’s critical to the success of any relationship, it’s really easy to let it become impersonal with the ease, speed and convenience of electronic communication. Don’t forget to pick up the phone or meet in person now and then for a live conversation. We have found that even though schedules are busy and time is limited, extra efforts like taking someone to lunch or scheduling a brief 15-minute update are appreciated and go a long way in helping make our suggestion in tip number one (commit to open communication!) easier to do.
We all have stories where we know if we had communicated a little more effectively the outcome would have been different in a positive way. At the end of the day, our job is more than sourcing candidates and churning out resumes. Anybody can do that—it’s such a small piece of the relationship between a company like EdgeLink and our clients and candidates. For win-win-win situations, we believe in the value of communication.
What works for you? Any successful communication strategies for keeping open dialogue between clients, candidates and/or vendors? We invite you to share!Labels: Industry Insight, Jeff Miller, Job Searching Tips
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Posted by EdgeLink at 9:54 AM | 0 comment(s)
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Thursday, July 16, 2009
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EdgeLink Amazing Race!
On Friday EdgeLink conducted its annual “half yearly” offsite meeting which gives us an opportunity to discuss our progress as a company half-way through the year. We take this time to discuss financials, accomplishments, challenges, as well as important company initiatives to focus on for the remainder of 2009.
After the meeting we had a team building event that was unlike any other we’ve had before. We decided to hire someone to organize an “EdgeLink Amazing Race” day to emulate to popular TV reality show. This competition included breaking up into teams of 3 or 4 and then racing to each marked point before your opponents do. Once you arrived at your next point your team would be required to perform a specific challenge in order to receive the clue for your next location. These challenges ranged from riding a pedicab through an obstacle course, eating a humongous glazed donut from Voodoo donuts, walking through the Keller Fountain, riding the OHSU tram, finding a random dog to jump through a “hoola hoop”, and many others. The finish line was at the Waterfront Park on the Willamette, and we followed that with happy hour at Paddy’s Irish Bar on 1st street. Here are a few pictures to highlight an incredible day!
 Labels: About EdgeLink, Jeff Miller, July 2009
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Posted by EdgeLink at 4:02 PM | 0 comment(s)
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Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Hiring in a Recession Is Easy, Right? Wrong!
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You know that we like the bright side of every situation at EdgeLink. In fact, we pride ourselves on making opportunities out of every challenge. But when clients ask us if the recession has made recruitment easier, we don’t dress up reality. Hiring top talent today is even harder than it was before the downturn began.
It’s counterintuitive but true. The growing numbers of job seekers have certainly resulted in a deluge of resumes across the desks of hiring managers everywhere. Quantity is up. The quality of candidates applying, on the other hand, has not skyrocketed because employers are holding tightly to their best performers and top innovators. Whether you have 30 resumes or 300, your ratio of qualified, sought-after candidates versus unqualified candidates remains the same as it was a year ago.
Should the fact that those towering resume piles (or bursting inboxes) only contain a few outstanding hires prevent your business from raising hiring standards? Absolutely not. Downturns are as much about opportunity as they are about challenge. They offer opportunities to advance far beyond the competition, opportunities to surpass customer expectations and opportunities distinguish your business from those paralyzed by recession fear through innovation and market leadership.
A business staffed with skillful, bright, committed and hardworking team members is one that can take advantage of the opportunities the recession presents and continue to build upon them well into the recovery. So we at EdgeLink enthusiastically encourage you to raise the recruiting bar and use the following tips to modify your recruiting strategy in order to find and hire the best of the best.
EdgeLink’s Recession Recruitment Strategy Tips
— Adjust your Clock. Be prepared for a longer hiring cycle. Remind yourself and business leaders that a great hire is a much sounder bottom-line investment than a mediocre hire that can fill the job but not fulfill high expectations.
— Be Finicky and Fast. If the cover letter is submitted and is weak or the resume has holes that give you certain pause, move on. Committing to finding the best hires means being willing to letting go of the average ones right away.
— Increase Interviewing. Even with the industry resources and state-of-the-art resume analysis tools we use at EdgeLink to identify talent, we are dramatically increasing our candidate interview numbers. Our interview rates have more than tripled since first quarter of 2008.
More interviewing is essential today because a greater numbers of applicant resumes will line up with your required profile in terms of skills and experience. Only a smart, efficient interviewing process will allow you to identify cream of the crop professionals who have the essential soft skills (communications, professionalism, team orientation, etc.) and character traits (intellectual curiosity, passion, drive) your business is seeking. To increase interviewing efficiency, EdgeLink suggests:
— Using short, pre-screening phone interviews to eliminate any problem candidates. If resources and time are short, work with a third-party recruitment partner like EdgeLink that has the technology, team and track record to quickly and successfully identify the very best candidates.
— Developing and using one standard, simple questionnaire for each position. Ensuring standardization of the questioning will make comparisons easier.
— Setting strict time limits and letting the candidate know why—the applicant pool is very big. By limiting the time to make an impression, you heighten the importance of each question and challenge the candidate to rise to the occasion.
— Integrate passive recruitment efforts. The best candidates in the marketplace are in jobs right now—succeeding at other companies. If you want to employ the best of the best, your recruitment strategy will need to include passive candidate recruitment, which requires networking and some headhunting on behalf of your recruitment team.
— Build a Bench. Even if you are not hiring right now, it’s a great moment to build a bench of enthusiastic potential hires you can turn to when a position opens up. Continue general recruitment efforts and keep an eye out for outstanding professionals at networking and industry events. Be sure to include your recruiters and recruiting partners in all bench-building efforts and make sure they are updated to essential changes, such as evolving technology platforms. The better informed your recruiting team is the better your hiring results will be.
As always, recruitment is an important challenge. However, in these tough economic and job market times, it’s a very good one to have.Labels: About EdgeLink, Jeff Miller
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Posted by EdgeLink at 3:45 PM | 1 comment(s)
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Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
We're #3!!!
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Oregon Business Magazine’s annual awards ceremony for the “100 Best Companies” was held on Tuesday, February 26th.  We are very pleased to announce that EdgeLink received the honor of being #3 best small company in Oregon to work for! Thank you to all the outstanding talent who make EdgeLink a great place to work and to all our clients who make this venture so rewarding! Labels: About EdgeLink, Jeff Miller
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Posted by EdgeLink at 1:14 PM | 1 comment(s)
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Thursday, November 01, 2007
Dos and Don’ts of Face-to-Face Interviewing
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Here are a few “common sense” tips I give to people that apply to most interviews (regardless of the level of the position):
1. The most asked question by interviewers is "Tell me about yourself and your background." Your answer to this question should be well thought out. You know it’s coming, so be prepared.
2. Be honest; don’t just say what you think the interviewer wants you to say.
3. Be direct. Don’t ramble. If you get off track, bring yourself back to the “specific question” that was asked. If you talk too much, the interviewer will want to get rid of you as soon as possible. However, if your answers are too brief, you may leave your interviewer unsatisfied and/or irritated. Find the balance.
4. Don’t take a trip to “negative town” when discussing your reasons for making a job change. If you start bashing your current employer, executive management's decisions, your immediate manager and the work culture, people might think you had something to do with it! Instead, simply focus on the areas that YOU can control, such as your areas of growth, career path and goals. This is always safe territory.
5. Good eye contact is essential. Look your interviewer in the eye, especially when THEY are talking – but don’t stare.
6. Show your passion/energy/drive by explaining WHY this is the career path you have chosen.
7. Prepare a list of questions that specifically apply to the person/company you’re meeting with (it's okay to ask the same questions to different people – to ensure continuity).
8. When you sense the interview is winding down, let them know you’re confident you can do the job – and you want the job.
9. Collect their business card – so you can send a thank-you note.
10. Have fun and smile.! :)Labels: Interviews, Jeff Miller
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Posted by EdgeLink at 3:11 PM | 2 comment(s)
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Thursday, October 06, 2005
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
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