Write a poor recruitment ad and you’ll get weak applicants. You’ll also probably receive too many applicants, leading to you or your human resources staff spending far too much time culling resumes and even possibly conducting first interviews with people who aren’t a good fit — or even qualified — for the job.

What’s more, a poorly written ad could possibly cause qualified applicants to pass over your opportunity because the information needed to gain their interest is missing from the ad.

Below are some tips to help you write effective recruitment ads:

• Keep it concise. Keep it organized. Keep it clear. Use subheads and bullet points to help highlight different parts of your message. Be sure to keep your requirements, job description and contact information separate — make it easy for the ad’s readers to differentiate them.
• Keep the “big words” to a minimum. In fact, be spare in your use of adjectives and adverbs. Don’t use three words when one will do.
• Describe your company’s products and services. Remember an ad is a marketing/sales tool; you want to “sell” your company to potential employees.
• Be more descriptive in your job titles. Don’t let a position’s actual title be a barrier to qualified candidates.
• Be very clear regarding the position’s responsibilities, education and/or training requirements. You want to attract qualified candidates, not everyone.
• Unless a number of years’ experience is absolutely necessary to perform a job well (and we really can’t think of an instance when this would be), avoid specifying a certain number of years of experience.
• Include the position’s salary range, otherwise you risk losing the interest of serious job candidates.
• What’s in it for them? That is, give some information about your benefits. If you have some terrific benefits (four weeks PTO for everyone, 100 percent match to your company’s retirement account, etc.), be sure to mention so.
• Write in a conversational tone. If you were speaking to someone about the job, how would you describe it?
• Be very clear on how an individual should apply. Is there a deadline? Absolutely no phone calls? Apply online only? Be sure to say so.

When you  need to write recruitment ads right, contact Winston Resources. Our Recruitment Advertising Division can write, design, all of your print, outdoor and online recruitment advertising. Contact us today!

If you want your business to grow, you want to get the most from your employees because it’s their productivity that will lead to growth.

What stands in the way of generating greater productivity, and what can you do about it?

Employee productivity can be tied to one thing – motivation.  What motivates your employees to work their hardest and work their best?  It’s not the same for everyone.

Each employee is different and may have different barriers to productivity.  For some, their skills may not match the job. Some may be dissatisfied with their job for some reason, while others,  may have difficulty with a manager.  So, clearly, what you must do is identify the cause of the behavior that is affecting productivity.

You need to find what motivates your workers, what gives them satisfaction from their work.  Some are motivated by performance-based bonuses, some by the chance of getting a promotion, some by flexible working conditions, others by additional time off.

Having rewards for productivity will go a long way toward improving performance.  Challenging employees to achieve a certain task with a reward attached will get the best from your workers.  And rewards don’t have to be extravagant – even small rewards will spur motivation.

One way of learning more about your employees is through assessments.  Employee assessments can help you determine what motivates your employees.  These assessments can also be used to better match people with the type of work they do.  By determining what the important factors are that make the difference between success and failure in a certain job, you can make sure you get the right person into the job.

Another productivity killer is not having clear expectations in the first place.  Often without clear goals and targets to shoot for, employees aim for the minimum.

Also, when looking for ways to spur productivity, don’t forget about your training programs.  It has been shown that the better, more thorough the training programs, the higher chance of retaining employees, and of enhancing employee satisfaction and morale.

Ongoing training is important for two reasons – first, it allows you to keep your employees up to date on trends in the industry, and second, it enables you to work in better internal work processes.  These training programs should be done on a quarterly or twice yearly basis and last no longer than two or three days.

If you’re a New York City area business and you need help with your assessing your employees’ skills, contact Winston Resources. We can offer you skills assessment services so that you’ll be able to place the right employee with the right skills in the right job.

Is this your situation? Job seekers desperate for work — any type of work — apply willy nilly to just about any job opening you have, whether they are qualified for a position or not.

Are you receiving hundreds of resumes for a handful of positions? Are you wondering how you’re going to cull through the pile, let alone find a few top candidates to invite in for an interview?

Winston Resources’ employee/resume screening services can help.

Our pre-employment screening service can go through all the resumes you receive for any position. We’ll use screening criteria you provide and will then go through the resumes  to certify candidates, making sure they are who they say they are and that they possess the skills and background you deem required for the position.
Only those candidates who meet these criteria will be forwarded on to you.

But wait, there’s more….

Winston Resources also can provide application and reference check services. We can send each candidate who passes screening an extensive written application, one that requires that they detail their full employment and education history.

We also check and confirm each reference given. If you need us to, we can conduct background and criminal checks, which can include SSN verifications, credit report and motor vehicle reports, as well as state and local criminal records.

Even though the recession is waning, the job market is taking too long to improve  and many unemployed or underemployed people are willing to work anywhere for anyone doing anything. As much as we — and you — would love to see full employment once again, too many desperate job seekers are making your job of finding great employees difficult, if not virtually impossible.

If you’re a Manhattan area company, let Winston Resources take that too-tall resume pile from off your desk (or e-mail in-basket). Contact us today. We look forward to serving you.

Has this ever happened to you:

You interview someone who just shines. She has the exact skills and experience you seek. Her delightful personality happily infects her future colleagues as they interview her as part of the selection process. Her references gush. Her former employer tells you to tell her he wants her back!

So you hire her, thinking you’ve made a super choice.

And then. She. Just. Doesn’t. Work. Out.

Some  people do exceptionally well at interviewing. If they could earn a living as a professional job seeker, they’d be tops. But get them into your office, doing the job for which they were hired, working — or, really, not working — with their colleagues, and something happens.

Many times employers and employees alike find the person and the job just don’t match. The employee finds the boss is too restrictive (she’s more of a “tell me what you want done and then get out of my way” kind of person working for someone she thought was easy going only to find he’s a micro-manager). The boss finds the new employee doesn’t have the exact skills he really, really needs for this position.

This problem can be alleviated if you hire someone on what the staffing industry calls a “temp-to-hire” basis. That is, you bring in someone from the staffing firm’s roster of employees, someone who has been tested and vetted to ensure that she has the skills and the temperament to fit into your office culture, for at least 90 days. If all works well, you hire the person onto your own payroll.

If it doesn’t work out, the staffing service removes the employee from your office (and almost always finds another position better suited for the employee quickly) and finds you someone else to try out for several weeks.

No one’s feelings are hurt. The temporary employee is told upfront there’s no guarantee she’ll be hired. (The temporary employee also has the option to say she doesn’t want to be hired and request another assignment; temp-to-hire assignments are a great way for employees to “try out” a job, too).

It also makes great monetary sense for an employer. If the first employee — or even the second or third — isn’t a perfect fit, there’s no need to start all over sourcing an employee (placing a job requisition, crafting and placing an ad, culling applications, interviewing candidates, etc.). You won’t have an empty seat in your office while your current employees once again work double duty until someone is found for the position.

A temp-to-hire arrangement is a real win-win situation for you and the temporary employee. If you’re a New York employer and need to find a new employee and are leery of having to go through an extended hiring process, give Winston Resources a call. We can help you find great employees for temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments.

You’re in the middle of an interview for an amazing job.  Things are going great. You look outstanding; you sound confident; you’re nailing every question. Then the interviewer asks you:

“If you were a car, what kind of car would you be?”

Your heart starts racing. Your mind goes blank. You begin to sweat. What should you say?

First of all, there’s no need to panic. This kind of interview question is designed to stump you. The interviewer wants to see how you react and how quickly you can think on your feet.

Here’s what to do and what NOT to do in this kind of situation:

• Don’t let the question rattle you. Simply smile and take a deep breath.
• Ask for a moment to give it some thought. A moment of silence or a pause in the conversation is better than blurting out a ridiculous answer.
• If you don’t know what the interviewer is fishing for in your answer, then ask for clarification or for an example. Many times by discussing the question in this way, an answer will come to you.
• If you still can’t think of a good answer, simply ask the interviewer to come back to that question.
• Also, don’t worry about being brilliant or witty. Just be yourself and give an honest response. There is rarely a wrong answer to these kinds of questions.

Here are some examples of other unexpected job interview questions that may come your way:

• If you could have dinner with anyone from history, living or dead, who would it be and why?
• Who do you admire the most and why?
• If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?

Also, while you can’t prepare for every off-the-wall question, make sure you ARE prepared for the basic questions, such as:

• Tell me about yourself?
• Where do you see yourself in one year? Five years?
• Tell me about a time when you successfully handled a complicated situation?
• What are your strengths? Weaknesses?
• What do you consider your biggest career achievement?
• Why should we hire you?
• Why do you want this job?

As one of New York City’s leading employment agencies, Winston Resources knows what employers are looking for during jobs interviews. If you’re searching for work and need helping preparing for an interview, please contact us today.

Writing effective job descriptions is part art, part science.  The difference between a good job description and a great job description can mean the difference between recruiting average and exceptional talent.

So to steal a line from author Jim Collins, how do you go from “Good to Great”?

Here are a few essentials to crafting “Great Job Descriptions”:

Start with  “the end in mind.”
As you get ready to craft a job description, ask yourself the following questions:
If you could find the perfect person, what would you want that person to truly accomplish in the position? If you need a web developer, for example, how many websites do you hope the person to build in a month/year? If you’re looking for a merchandiser, how many displays do you expect that person to build and set up each week?

Use the answers to these questions and then work “backwards” as you put together your job description.

Be specific.
When specifying the tasks the person will be performing, be sure they are what the employee will actually do; don’t let these become confused with what the person’s qualifications should be. Qualifications are the skills, credentials and experience a person has.

Include priorities.
Don’t just list the tasks of the position. Be sure to include the position’s priorities and be sure to identify them as such.

Specify required vs. desired qualifications.
If you specify certain degrees, credentials or licenses, be sure that they are absolutely necessary to the position. These qualifications should have a direct bearing on a person’s ability to be able to perform the position’s duties and tasks.

Don’t be too specific.
Okay, I know this goes against an earlier tip so let me clarify…avoid placing several tasks into one job description. Doing so may see you creating a position that very few people could actually perform.

Avoid cliches.
Be specific in your language. For example, instead of “good communication skills,” use “Needs to be able to communicate comfortably with executives and other high-level customers.”

Bonus Tip: Call Winston Resources
As one of New York’s leading staffing and recruitment agencies we specialize in helping employers recruit and hire top performers.  We can not only help you craft outstanding job descriptions, but we can directly recruit top performing passive candidates with the specific skills and experience you require.

Having the right tools at your disposal can make hiring a lot easier—and a lot more successful.  Here is a quick overview of different assessments tools you can use, beyond the basic job interview:

• Qualifications Screens – simple questionnaires determine if an applicant has the minimum requirements to perform a job (availability, minimum age, years of related experience, etc.).
• Job Simulations / Work-Sample Tests – These require the candidate to actually demonstrate or perform job tasks. Simulations may be conducted: as written tests, as role-playing exercises, on a computer, or even in real-life conditions. By design, they generally show a high degree of job-relatedness.
• General Abilities Tests – Generally used for entry-level jobs or for applicants without advanced degrees. They measure broad mental abilities such as reasoning, quantitative, verbal, and spatial abilities.
• Specific Ability Tests – Test for distinct mental and physical abilities, such as typing speed, reading comprehension, strength, and mechanical aptitude.
• Knowledge and Skills Tests – Determine how much an individual knows about a very specific, advanced subject area such as software programming or mortgage laws. Knowledge tests are similar to specific ability assessments, but examine more sophisticated skills.
• Talent Measures / Personality Inventories – Measure a candidate’s natural personal characteristics like: leadership and management skills; problem-solving ability; motivation; self-confidence; and communication styles.
• Culture Fit Inventories -  Assess how well an applicant will fit into your corporate culture and work environment, to help ensure organizational commitment.
• Background Investigations – Gather information from outside sources, such as former employers and police records. Employment, criminal record, and reference checks all help employers avoid potentially catastrophic hires.
• Drug Screens – Use a physical specimen from the candidate (hair, urine, etc.) to determine past drug or alcohol use. Employers use drug screens to prevent industrial accidents, work-related injuries, and excessive absenteeism.

If you would like more information about any of the above assessments please contact our offices today.