Job opportunities with our current clients
Begin where you are. 
 |
 |
Take 3 - TripleTrack BlogBy Rachael Lowe / May 4, 20125/4/12 Hiring for Attitude, Not Skill (Click here to open/close)The most recent numbers for Buffalo, NY unemployment (Jan 2012) put us on the map with a 7.8% unemployment rate, or what is an equivalent of over 44,500 people. Even though that’s .5% lower than the national average, (and much lower than previous years), it still leaves plenty of employers with potentially thousands of resumes to sift through. Not only that, but the more entry-level your job openings, the larger the percentage of resumes that will come shooting into your inbox. Yay!Of course you have basic requirements to fill a position that shouldn’t be neglected. But when you get those candidates in the door for an interview, might I suggest you try to have more of a conversation with them than ask them solely about the technical skills you already know they have? Of course, you should know what types of personal questions are off limits pre-employment, but ask questions that turn the focus more on their personality and attitude, so you know that the person you’re hiring is a cultural match. Something like “Describe the work environment or culture in which you are most happy” should make a candidate light up because the idea of actually being happy at work allows them to answer the question honestly. Almost half of new employees with an attitude that isn’t meshing with their company fail within the first 18 months. By hiring for attitude, you can help bring that risk to a minimum. Oh, and if you’re getting the same answers from every candidate you’re interviewing, then you’re probably not asking the right questions. 2/16/12 The Big Secret to Increasing Workers Productivity...Finally! (Click here to open/close)By Kathryn Murray, TripleTrack HR InternAre you ready for it? It is as simple as communication. Who would have thought that simply communicating to your employees could increase their productivity? Not many. But take a step back and look at the job (or a previous job of yours when you were not in management) and think of what would of helped make you do your job more thoroughly and accurately. Having challenges and goals, knowing what was expected of you, being able to talk about opportunities (not problems because nothing these days is a problem) with fellow employees, being motivated, etc. would have been your dream come true. I think one major problem is when people get into a management position they forget what motivates employees and they just look towards the end results right away. The “big people” in an organization, or shall we say “higher ups”, cannot be forgetting about what makes their followers want to work hard and get results for the company, because these little people are the ones making the organization a success. The icing on the cake: having challenges at work is one of the main items that lead to employee job satisfaction. So yes, what I am telling you is rather quite simple. Communicate with your employees. Tell them what you want, make sure it is a clear message, create realistic challenges in their job, and allow them to discuss opportunities with other employees. You can find other ways of increasing your communication skills and making the “little people” happy in the article found on SHRM: http://bit.ly/xqbik2 These challenges will lead your employees to be very satisfied with their job and you, in turn, will have decreased turnover. This saves you the whole process of looking for a new employee to fill their shoes, which sometimes takes months. Not only that, but a recent Business Journal article indicated that the cost of turnover can easily reach 150 % of the employee’s annual base pay for salaried positions! So send a quick email or have a brief meeting with your employees about what you want them to accomplish; it will save you so much more time in the long run. Aren’t you glad you had that 10 minute conversation about your expectations? 1/4/12 Have you thought about creating more Work-Life Balance? (Click here to open/close)How would you feel if your employees had a little down time and went to a movie on a Friday afternoon? Or what if they opted-out of a company-wide meeting that had about three minutes of information that was pertinent to them? Imagine a work environment with no set hours, only evaluations to determine if business goals are being met. To Best Buy corporate, allowing these “insanities” to happen has meant a 45% reduction in turnover. It’s called ROWE, the Results-Only Work Environment. What started as an experiment in 2005 at Best Buy’s corporate campus in Richfield, Minnesota has proven a success. Their website, www.rowe.iambestbuy.com, has some really great information explaining how their managers can help implement their ROWE system efficiently, and wouldn’t be a bad idea for you as a manager to take a look at. I’m not saying you announce that all of your employees can come in to work whenever they feel like it. Creating a balanced work-life environment takes a lot of planning and evaluation. If you felt your stomach churn at the thought of letting anyone skip one of your meetings, this ROWE plan may not be the best for you - But starting small shouldn’t be out of the question.
12/1/11 Generational Differences on the Job (Click here to open/close)It's not your Mother's Workplace-Generational Differences on the JobThree Minutes of HR Stuff that won't put you to Sleep Raunchy Jazz Music, Elvis Presley’s gyrating hips, MTV and Social Media. The onset of these things gave teenagers and young adults nothing but freedom and a method of self-expression apart from their “stuffy” parents and elders. On the other hand, those “old folks” would try to block it out as much as possible, hoping eventually it would just die out (I mean, Elvis’ first performance was an "appalling lack of musicality," for its "vulgarity" and "animalism" after all). Of course, the world realized in hindsight (as we realize most things) that Jazz Music, Elvis, MTV, and even Social Media have changed the way this world operates, and not only didn’t die out – but inspired even more change – cue Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, and Google+. All media related comparisons aside, I’m betting that everyone has come across a time in their office when a misunderstanding occurred because of different generations working together. Whether it’s as small as a baby boomer expecting a Gen Y to work late when they mentally checked out at 4:55, or as large as your HR Team trying to have benefits that will make all generations happy – the common ground to correcting these problems is patience and understanding. You can feasibly get nowhere if you don’t try to understand why people function the way they do. The days of “I’m the boss, I’m paying you – so do it” have been over, even in a shaky economy. The best you as an employer or employee can do (especially if you supervise others) is educate yourselves. What makes baby boomers work so hard, and what happened that Gen X started wanting this thing called work-life balance? I’m not going to bore you with the details, but SHRM released a great study that even went as far as breaking down what types of workplace conflicts occur because of these differences. You can find it here: http://bit.ly/qOXrHs. In case you’re wondering, I’m a Gen Y. Born and raised in a time when typically parents praised their children for failure and gave them everything they pointed to. Some of us get to live that way our whole lives, me and most of my friends on the other hand are busy working off our $20,000+ student loans. Trust me, we respect older generations and all of the hard work they have put in to allow us our own opportunities. We just might use Twitter to talk about it. |
