All over the web there are articles about being a new you for the New Year, but how can you do that without the benefit of a new perspective?  

Interviewing and hiring new employees is the perfect time to gain insight into your business.  The longer we are inside a company the harder it is to be able to step back and see possible opportunities and improvements.  Time gives us the ability to master a process and invests us in it.  This investment in the company and its processes shields us from being able to see things that run on other directions.

You can get all the information you need in two easy steps.  Prepare a questionnaire about opinions of your business.  Just four or five simple questions that can give you the view of your customers.  Ask if they considered employment at a competitor, and how they decided which job to pursue.  Find out about ease of finding information about your business.  Were they able to easily learn about who you are as a company?

The second step is to ask new employees to prepare a competitive analysis of your company and a competitor.  This is commonly done in the finance industry, it is a great practice and should be done by every company.  Give a set of comparison points to your new hire and challenge them with gaining as much information as possible.  This can include market data, documentation of process in your company and a competitor through visits, comparison of website interface, stocking levels, etc.  Be sure to encourage the new employee to give an opinion with their information as to areas of critical improvement.  Tell them to be as impartial as possible, to get the most honest feedback.

Remember new year, new insight.  Have a prosperous New Year!

Gregory Gershman - Managing Partner

All over the web there are articles about being a new you for the New Year, but how can you do that without the benefit of a new perspective?  

Interviewing and hiring new employees is the perfect time to gain insight into your business.  The longer we are inside a company the harder it is to be able to step back and see possible opportunities and improvements.  Time gives us the ability to master a process and invests us in it.  This investment in the company and its processes shields us from being able to see things that run on other directions.

You can get all the information you need in two easy steps.  Prepare a questionnaire about opinions of your business.  Just four or five simple questions that can give you the view of your customers.  Ask if they considered employment at a competitor, and how they decided which job to pursue.  Find out about ease of finding information about your business.  Were they able to easily learn about who you are as a company?

The second step is to ask new employees to prepare a competitive analysis of your company and a competitor.  This is commonly done in the finance industry, it is a great practice and should be done by every company.  Give a set of comparison points to your new hire and challenge them with gaining as much information as possible.  This can include market data, documentation of process in your company and a competitor through visits, comparison of website interface, stocking levels, etc.  Be sure to encourage the new employee to give an opinion with their information as to areas of critical improvement.  Tell them to be as impartial as possible, to get the most honest feedback.

Remember new year, new insight.  Have a prosperous New Year!

Gregory Gershman - Managing Partner

Happy Boxing Day!

Only one week left until one of the largest hiring seasons of the year. The New Year brings with it a furious flocking to the job boards, as recent fall grads and those with a resolution for a better job clamor to find their perfect career.

Is your company employment page ready?

Here is a checklist to help put your best foot forward:

1. Have an apply here button, with the landing form tied to Google Analytics. So many pages I visit do not even have a clear way for someone to actually apply. Many job hunters will go straight to the employment page of the company they like, meaning you can have first opportunity with these applicants before they even hit a job board.
2. Embed a video with a message from a member of executive management, and a tenured employee. Video is shown to get over 100 times more engagement than text in social media and the same holds true on your webpage. Speak to visitors about how successful your company is going to be in the near to long future and let your employee express how they fit into the daily plan.
3. List all the positions you have within your company, not just what you are hiring for now. Some of the site visitors will be more long term prospects for hire, and great hiring companies build pipelines for positions. Don't have talented people look elsewhere because they do not think you want to know about them.
4. Offer an ability to connect via LinkedIn. Have the link available to follow your company, and connect to the department head they will be applying to. Get your managers socially involved, let applicants know they are sending their resume to a human being that cares about them as individuals.

Put these four easy enhancements to your page in place now, and you will be in prime position to capture the most talent from your employment page.

Gregory Gershman - Managing Partner 

Happy Boxing Day!

Only one week left until one of the largest hiring seasons of the year. The New Year brings with it a furious flocking to the job boards, as recent fall grads and those with a resolution for a better job clamor to find their perfect career.

Is your company employment page ready?

Here is a checklist to help put your best foot forward:

1. Have an apply here button, with the landing form tied to Google Analytics. So many pages I visit do not even have a clear way for someone to actually apply. Many job hunters will go straight to the employment page of the company they like, meaning you can have first opportunity with these applicants before they even hit a job board.
2. Embed a video with a message from a member of executive management, and a tenured employee. Video is shown to get over 100 times more engagement than text in social media and the same holds true on your webpage. Speak to visitors about how successful your company is going to be in the near to long future and let your employee express how they fit into the daily plan.
3. List all the positions you have within your company, not just what you are hiring for now. Some of the site visitors will be more long term prospects for hire, and great hiring companies build pipelines for positions. Don't have talented people look elsewhere because they do not think you want to know about them.
4. Offer an ability to connect via LinkedIn. Have the link available to follow your company, and connect to the department head they will be applying to. Get your managers socially involved, let applicants know they are sending their resume to a human being that cares about them as individuals.

Put these four easy enhancements to your page in place now, and you will be in prime position to capture the most talent from your employment page.

Gregory Gershman - Managing Partner 

Fresh back from Florida watching our son graduate from college, and he is already on the job hunt. The thought of having to move back in with his parents in Nothingtodoville Upstate New York, might be motivating him slightly. I wanted to share some insights from his progress so far that can help some of my employer and applicant readers.

Be positive, but only cash the checks you have.

During our son's time at school he has accumulated a circle of connections in the business community, many alumni of his college. Each time he speaks to one, they have a sure-fire contact that will definitely want to hire him. Our son is smart, talented, and hard working, a catch for any employer. That being said, he is in a large city and there is a line of people with degrees, contacts, and work ethic. It is easy to count one of these referrals to a company like a guarantee, it is important to view it as only an opportunity for you to earn a position.

The vision of the future is as important as the job promised today.

While we were visiting, our son gave us the complete run down on his potential job opportunities. He is very detail oriented so we had the chance to get as much information as we could handle. This included the possible promotions, estimated time to move up the ladder, the income that comes with the higher level positions, and what he of course could spend the money on. Employers, the applicants reviewing your employment opportunities are not only considering the job you offer them now, but also what your company can do for them in the short and long term future. As part of your job marketing it is key to have information about about what an advanced career in your company looks like. Maybe a quote or two from some employees that have moved up the chain. You are selling the applicants that consider you a future, as well as a present.

Jumping through hoops is a circus trick, not an appropriate interview tactic.

One of the positions our son is applying for has been slow affair. He has a referral to the company, sent in an application, emails, and calls. Now that he is graduated there is a great urgency to start a career, and this seems a perfect fit. So why isn't the interview process moving forward? Our son got an answer from one of his other contacts. It seems this company uses a war of attrition to whittle down their applicant pool. They draw out the process and communicate just enough to keep the applicant involved, but force them to keep jumping through hoops. The company is trying to use this tactic to ensure they are getting to the person that wants to work for them the most.

There two giant flaws with this method for screening applicants. First, an unemployed applicant does not have the option of turning down opportunities to hold out for the position at your company. Second, using the able to hold out for this job longest theory only assures you the most motivated to accept your position, not the best able to perform the job. Most motivated can be attributed to a number of reasons such as; having a character flaw that has kept them from earning other positions once interviewed, being unmotivated enough to go through the work of interviewing at multiple companies and simply having the financial means to wait out your process, romanticizing your company to a point where they have an unrealistic view of the opportunity, and finally the one you are probably hoping for which is your job is their dream job.

As an applicant I would be very leery of a company that goes beyond doing their due diligence to completely know you, and simply moves into seeing how difficult they can make the process. It shows a lack of caring for applicants as individuals outside of their hiring process.

Hopefully there is a nugget or two here for you.

Have a prosperous day :-)

Fresh back from Florida watching our son graduate from college, and he is already on the job hunt. The thought of having to move back in with his parents in Nothingtodoville Upstate New York, might be motivating him slightly. I wanted to share some insights from his progress so far that can help some of my employer and applicant readers.

Be positive, but only cash the checks you have.

During our son's time at school he has accumulated a circle of connections in the business community, many alumni of his college. Each time he speaks to one, they have a sure-fire contact that will definitely want to hire him. Our son is smart, talented, and hard working, a catch for any employer. That being said, he is in a large city and there is a line of people with degrees, contacts, and work ethic. It is easy to count one of these referrals to a company like a guarantee, it is important to view it as only an opportunity for you to earn a position.

The vision of the future is as important as the job promised today.

While we were visiting, our son gave us the complete run down on his potential job opportunities. He is very detail oriented so we had the chance to get as much information as we could handle. This included the possible promotions, estimated time to move up the ladder, the income that comes with the higher level positions, and what he of course could spend the money on. Employers, the applicants reviewing your employment opportunities are not only considering the job you offer them now, but also what your company can do for them in the short and long term future. As part of your job marketing it is key to have information about about what an advanced career in your company looks like. Maybe a quote or two from some employees that have moved up the chain. You are selling the applicants that consider you a future, as well as a present.

Jumping through hoops is a circus trick, not an appropriate interview tactic.

One of the positions our son is applying for has been slow affair. He has a referral to the company, sent in an application, emails, and calls. Now that he is graduated there is a great urgency to start a career, and this seems a perfect fit. So why isn't the interview process moving forward? Our son got an answer from one of his other contacts. It seems this company uses a war of attrition to whittle down their applicant pool. They draw out the process and communicate just enough to keep the applicant involved, but force them to keep jumping through hoops. The company is trying to use this tactic to ensure they are getting to the person that wants to work for them the most.

There two giant flaws with this method for screening applicants. First, an unemployed applicant does not have the option of turning down opportunities to hold out for the position at your company. Second, using the able to hold out for this job longest theory only assures you the most motivated to accept your position, not the best able to perform the job. Most motivated can be attributed to a number of reasons such as; having a character flaw that has kept them from earning other positions once interviewed, being unmotivated enough to go through the work of interviewing at multiple companies and simply having the financial means to wait out your process, romanticizing your company to a point where they have an unrealistic view of the opportunity, and finally the one you are probably hoping for which is your job is their dream job.

As an applicant I would be very leery of a company that goes beyond doing their due diligence to completely know you, and simply moves into seeing how difficult they can make the process. It shows a lack of caring for applicants as individuals outside of their hiring process.

Hopefully there is a nugget or two here for you.

Have a prosperous day :-)

Interviewing for a job is one of the more nerve wracking experiences in life.  The entire balance of the meeting is out of place from any other interaction we have with other people in our lives.  

The closest I can think of is a visit to a new doctor.  You are typically made to sit in a waiting room and feel like you are being watched while you sit there.  Forced to fill out byzantine forms, with information that is unnecessary to write out.  Brought into a nondescript room and questioned, and then told we will be called with the results.  I do not blame job seekers for disliking the interview process one bit.

Just like during a doctor's visit the intimidating process makes us forget that this is a give and take relationship.  It is not meant to be one-sided, and we need to assert ourselves enough to ask the questions we have.  How many times have you left a doctor's office wishing you had other answers?  You get home and your friends and family are grilling you, did you ask this, did you find out that?

The awkwardness of the visit take us out of our comfort zone and the back and forth dynamic that is supposed to be there gets lost.  We just start answering questions, and waiting for the person in charge to direct the conversation.  Just like you have the right to ask questions of your doctor, you need to center yourself and remember that the job interview is as much your opportunity to learn about the business as it is a chance for the company to evaluate you.

The key to this is the same in an interview as it is at the doctor, bring written questions with you.  Research and prepare prior to walking in to interview.  Go on social media, review sites, the company site; 89% of HR managers are reviewing information from social media about applicants why aren't applicants doing the same for the business?  We get so focused on preparing to answer questions, we forget to be ready to ask our own.

It may not feel like it, but this really can and should be a give and take relationship in the hiring process.  Both an applicant and a business should be speaking to multiple possibilities and finding the best fit.  Don't get lost in the process and let the interviewer be the only one actually investigating and considering their options.

Gregory Gershman - Managing Partner

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Interviewing for a job is one of the more nerve wracking experiences in life.  The entire balance of the meeting is out of place from any other interaction we have with other people in our lives.  

The closest I can think of is a visit to a new doctor.  You are typically made to sit in a waiting room and feel like you are being watched while you sit there.  Forced to fill out byzantine forms, with information that is unnecessary to write out.  Brought into a nondescript room and questioned, and then told we will be called with the results.  I do not blame job seekers for disliking the interview process one bit.

Just like during a doctor's visit the intimidating process makes us forget that this is a give and take relationship.  It is not meant to be one-sided, and we need to assert ourselves enough to ask the questions we have.  How many times have you left a doctor's office wishing you had other answers?  You get home and your friends and family are grilling you, did you ask this, did you find out that?

The awkwardness of the visit take us out of our comfort zone and the back and forth dynamic that is supposed to be there gets lost.  We just start answering questions, and waiting for the person in charge to direct the conversation.  Just like you have the right to ask questions of your doctor, you need to center yourself and remember that the job interview is as much your opportunity to learn about the business as it is a chance for the company to evaluate you.

The key to this is the same in an interview as it is at the doctor, bring written questions with you.  Research and prepare prior to walking in to interview.  Go on social media, review sites, the company site; 89% of HR managers are reviewing information from social media about applicants why aren't applicants doing the same for the business?  We get so focused on preparing to answer questions, we forget to be ready to ask our own.

It may not feel like it, but this really can and should be a give and take relationship in the hiring process.  Both an applicant and a business should be speaking to multiple possibilities and finding the best fit.  Don't get lost in the process and let the interviewer be the only one actually investigating and considering their options.

Gregory Gershman - Managing Partner

post here

Happy Hannukah everyone, well tomorrow night anyway. Did that hurt anyone? I also intend to wish people a Merry Christmas as we get closer too. I am Jewish, but I also have half of my family and many coworkers that are Christian.

Getting to December means awkward consideration of who we can wish a Merry, Happy, etc. Is it almost comical watching a manager, that is confident in every other area of their lives, all of the sudden get tongue tied when it comes to wishing the people around them peace and happiness. Why?

Fairness in Human Resources is about valuing employees, and their right to work in an environment that accepts them. You can express your joy at Christmas, or Hannukah, etc. Just don't restrict others from sharing their joy either. Put the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree on your desk and enjoy it, but don't get offended when there is a Menorah in the window too.

Instead of obsessing over how to wish a coworker happiness, just express it in the way that is most genuine. If that is Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Holidays, it is okay. If anyone wants practice, I am Jewish and would love to get a bunch of Merry Christmas wishes in my inbox, willing to smile at Happy Holidays too.

Gregory Gershman - Managing Partner

Happy Hannukah everyone, well tomorrow night anyway. Did that hurt anyone? I also intend to wish people a Merry Christmas as we get closer too. I am Jewish, but I also have half of my family and many coworkers that are Christian.

Getting to December means awkward consideration of who we can wish a Merry, Happy, etc. Is it almost comical watching a manager, that is confident in every other area of their lives, all of the sudden get tongue tied when it comes to wishing the people around them peace and happiness. Why?

Fairness in Human Resources is about valuing employees, and their right to work in an environment that accepts them. You can express your joy at Christmas, or Hannukah, etc. Just don't restrict others from sharing their joy either. Put the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree on your desk and enjoy it, but don't get offended when there is a Menorah in the window too.

Instead of obsessing over how to wish a coworker happiness, just express it in the way that is most genuine. If that is Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Holidays, it is okay. If anyone wants practice, I am Jewish and would love to get a bunch of Merry Christmas wishes in my inbox, willing to smile at Happy Holidays too.

Gregory Gershman - Managing Partner