The annual survey by CareerBuilder.com and CareerRookie.com found that 54 percent of business surveyed said they would be hiring more college grads, and increase from 46 percent last year. The survey in 2010 found that 44 percent of employers surveyed planned to hire new grads that summer, with 43 percent saying so in 2009.

As for the majors most in-demand: 39 percent of employers said they were looking for business majors, followed by computer majors (24 percent) and then information sciences grads (23 percent).

As for the other top majors, those who majored in communications technologies, health professions, the clinical sciences, math, and statistics are expected to be the most sought after.

Other good news for this year’s grads: employers are planning to pay more when it comes to starting salaries.

The survey reported that 20 percent of employers said they would pay $30,000 or less, while 38 percent said they’d be paying $50,000 or more. Thirty percent will start new grads out with a salary between $30,000 and $40,000, while 21 percent will deliver salaries between $40,000 and $50,000.

Be sure to watch what’s on your social media profiles: 15 percent of those employers surveyed said they didn’t hire a recent grad because they didn’t like what they saw on the candidate’s social media feeds.

The survey also found that, while a good GPA is important, so are extracurricular activities such as part-time work while in school, internships and volunteering. In fact, of those surveyed, 53 percent of employers said they looked at volunteer work as “relevant experience.”

If you’re still in college, or a recent grad, working in temporary assignments also counts as “relevant.” If you’re at school in the NYC area, contact a recruiter at Winston Resources. We’d love to talk to you more about the short- and long-term temporary assignments we offer, as well as direct-hire opportunities if you’re looking for regular employment. We look forward to hearing from you!

Companies gave a number of reasons why they used the social media sites. The reason given most often – by about two-thirds of the companies – was to see if the job candidate presents himself or herself in a professional manner. About half looked at an applicant’s online profile to determine whether the person would be a good fit for the company. And half of the companies also said they looked to see if they can learn more about the candidate’s qualifications. Another third reported looking to see how well-rounded the applicant’s background was. And about 10 percent said they looked to see if there was anything on the site that might disqualify the candidate from the job.

About one-third of the company officials who looked online said they found information there that led them to cross the candidate off of their list. Some of the major reasons why candidates were dumped included inappropriate photos; talk about drinking or using drugs; evidence of poor communication skills; bad mouthing a former employer; evidence of discrimination based on race, gender or religion; and lying about qualifications.

The reasons cited by the companies for tossing candidates should provide a warning to everyone who uses social media sites. The number one reason for disqualifying a candidate was having an inappropriate photo on a site. Almost half of the companies disqualified applicants for that reason alone.

So, take heed if you’re actively looking for a job or if you plan to be looking – review all of the photos on your site and make sure all of them portray you in a positive way. Make sure they are professional – you should be dressed well, be well groomed, and look dignified. Lose the goofy looks or poses and remove any photos where you are horsing around. No photo is value neutral, that is, anyone who sees your photo is going to make some kind of judgment about you based on how you present yourself, so make sure you present yourself at your best.

For more tips on how to present yourself successfully to an employer, contact Winston Resources. We’ve been helping NYC-area job seekers find work since 1967, so we know a thing or two (or two thousand) about impressing employers. Contact us today!

If you work in human resources, it may be something worth checking out for your company.

At some companies, recess activities take a more traditional format – workers can jump rope, play basketball or other “schoolyard” games. Other places have a more adult flavor to their recess, offering short exercise routines, ping-pong, or miniature golf. The purpose, however, is the same for each – to pull employees away from their computers for 15 minutes and help reduce stress on overworked people.

People in the benefits area say that it may seem like a gimmick, but it really is helpful for employee wellness.  That’s because many people, who spend their workdays at a desk, lead very sedentary lives. This in turn raises a host of health issues. And that in turn affects businesses that employ these people. Recess is one way of addressing the need for people to get more activity.

Health officials encourage companies to offer some recess-like activity at work, or something similar, such as walking breaks. Sitting for a long time can adversely affect your health, according to health officials, and so recess breaks are a good way to break up the sitting.

Between five and 10 percent of the increase in healthcare costs comes from employees who do not engage in enough physical activity, according to health officials. About one-fifth of all cases of heart disease and diabetes come as a result of inactivity.

Keen Inc., a company located in Portland, Oregon that makes footwear, began its recess program just last year. Such programs can reduce healthcare costs and also drive up productivity, according to company officials. They cite research by a UCLA professor who estimates that there is a $1.50 to $2 return from every dollar spent on a recess program.

Recess also helps companies to get buy-in from their employees. Many people are not thrilled at the idea of wellness programs, but when they get a chance to have a little fun during the day, it becomes something they really want to do.

Speaking of fun, the recruiters here at Winston Resources love to find New York City companies great temporary and direct-hire employees. Contact us today!

These tips come from Resume 101: A Student and Recent-Grad Guide to Crafting Resumes and Cover
Letters that Land Jobs, by Quentin J Schulze, PhD.

You always should be on the lookout for typos, but you’d be surprised to learn that many people misspell their own name! Don’t just use spellchecker. Put your resume down for at least a day and then look at it again – if you’re name is misspelled you’re likely to see it then.

Watch out for the cute nicknames. If your name is John, Jack is fine. “But don’t use ‘Natster’ for Nate or Nathaniel,” Schulze writes. “Even if you want all of your friends and coworkers to call you ‘Butch’ or ‘Sammy’ (for Samantha), use your formal, given name on your résumé.”

You may want to consider seriously using a middle initial. This can be especially helpful if your first and last names are somewhat common. In fact, Schulze recommends that you use your full middle name if, for example, your name is John Smith. “John James Smith” helps you stand out.

As for contact info, if you use a cell phone, that’s fine. Just be sure, according to Schulze, that you’re going to have that number for several years. Employers often keep resumes on file for a long time and you’ll want to be sure your contact info stays current.

The same goes for your e-mail address. Choose an address you consider your “permanent” address.
And ditch the cutsey addresses, the tonyjean1, the suzieq526. Aim to have your full name as an e-mail address. John.Q.Smith@, or Smith-John@. (Note: it’s far better to have your first-name, last-name as an e-mail address.)

Schulze also recommends you stay away from e-mail addresses with numbers: “(for example, ‘17648he’ and ‘sJgB2O’).”

Make sure any phone numbers include area codes.

And, speaking of the phone, get rid of any too-cute, profane or otherwise unprofessional voice-mail messages: “Yo, dude! I’m not here so you know what to do!”

If currently employed, even if it’s a college, part-time position, don’t use your employer’s e-mail address to receive job queries. Your employer may give you permission to do so, but using the company’s e-mail address (yourname@companyname.com) makes it appear as if you are looking for work while using your employer’s equipment or on your employer’s time. That’s very bad form.

If you’re a new grad looking for your first “real” job in Manhattan, consider bringing your resume to Winston Resources. We can help you get your “foot in the door” with some of NYC’s best companies. We look forward to hearing from you!

Here are a few suggestions from business advisor Dorie Clark.

One is to ease up on checking email, which can act like a stimulus-response activity. We keep hitting that refresh button to see what new stuff has just come in. We tend to back into it more often than we know is good for us just to get that thrill of finding out what’s new. Instead, set up a schedule for when you will look at email, every hour or two hours, for example.

Also stop the mindless habits, things that you continue to do even though they serve no real purpose. One example is sending out the mountain of Christmas cards every year because it’s something you have always done. Do you need to send that many?

Another thing to look at is your reading. Did you get a subscription just because they were offering a deal on it? Do you feel you have to consult an array of news sources each day to keep up with things? Can you narrow down your professional reading list? Are all of those publications you are reading to supposedly help you with your job and career really helping that much? What can you cut out?

Are there tasks you are doing that are more trouble than they are worth? In other words, are there activities that make you jump through so many hoops compared to the return that is delivered that make the task really not worth doing?

Are you tying yourself up by making things more complicated than they need to be? Worrying or planning for things that never materialize comes under this category. Most of the things we fear will happen never do, and so we waste time making plans for nothing. There are a lot of “what ifs” to every project, but it is important to ask the what if only when appropriate.

Have you been wondering “what if” you found a new job? If so, and if you live in the NYC area, contact a recruiter at Winston Resources. We can help you find work with some of Manhattan’s best companies. We look forward to hearing from you!

A December 2011 study that appeared in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior followed a company that had instituted a new management system in which work was changed to that employees had considerable more flexibility in when and even where they did their work, so long as certain measurable results were met.

The study found that, among other things, employees reported getting almost an hour more of sleep a night. In addition, employees didn’t feel as obligated to work when sick and were more likely to take care of their health by visiting a doctor when ill, even if they had an approaching deadline.

The study also found that employees felt more in control of their schedules; they reported having less conflict between their professional and home lives, leading to better sleep and health, higher energy, and less stress.

Another study, this one reported in The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in 2008, found that employees of all types – those who work in an office environment as well as a executives, and warehouse and production workers – reported that those employees who believed they had more flexibility in the workplace tended to have engage in healthier lifestyle activities and habits.

If you’re looking for flexible staffing services, whether you need a job or you need workers – contact Winston Resources. We’ve been serving job seekers and our client companies in the New York City area for more than 40 years and we’d look forward to be of service to you! Contact us today.

As you weave your way through the interview process, here are some questions you should ask the interviewer:

First of all, be sure you research as much as you can about your potential employer. This has become exceedingly easy to do via LinkedIn, the company’s own website, Google searches, etc.

During the interview, you’ll want to be sure to let the interviewer/hiring manager know you’ve done your research. This also should be easy to do as the hiring manager will no doubt ask you what you know about the company. If the interviewer doesn’t ask, you’ll undoubtedly find at least one opening as the interview progresses to let the interviewer know you’ve done your research.

As the interview proceeds, or near the end when the hiring manager asks if you have any questions, ask questions along these lines:

1. Why is the position open? You want to know how the opening came up. Did the previous job holder leave for another company, or was he or she promoted? This can be valuable information to you because if the person was promoted, the job can be a stepping stone for you, too.
2. Is the position a newly created position? If no one sat at the desk before, you’ll want to know why the company felt it important to create the position. Companies haven’t been doing a lot of job creation lately, so the fact that the company created a new position means it feels the position is critical to its success.
3. What are the two most critical task/goals you want the person you hire to accomplish first/fastest? This question allows you to show how your skills/experience will help the hiring manager accomplish see those goals met quickly.
4. What kind of people really thrive here? This question will help you see if you and this job will be a “good fit.” Most people who aren’t successful in a position don’t fail because they can’t do a job, but because they don’t fit in well with the company’s culture. A slow and steady person, for example, feels overwhelmed in a “go, go, go!” environment.
5. If you have two great candidates who seem to fit perfectly with your needs, all else being equal, what will help you decide on one person over the other? This question lets you get to the heart of what the interviewer is looking for. You can then give concrete examples of how you fit that description of the “perfect” candidate.
6. What is your next step? This question (almost always asked at the end of the interview), lets you know where the hiring manager is in the candidate selection process. You’ll find out if the hiring manager is still interviewing, if he or she is planning on calling top candidates for a final interview, and so on.

For more interview tips, contact a recruiter at Winston Resources. We can help you get that first post-college job at one of New York City’s top employers. Contact us today!

In order to answer that question, you first need to decide on the goals you want to reach through the use of coaching, according to business consultants Ellen Kumata and Colleen Gentry. You need to set up clear objectives that you want your coaching to accomplish. How do you expect the coaching certification training to improve the performance of your coaches, to help you reach your goals? And will that improvement be great enough to justify the cost?

Sometimes a certification program does not provide enough of the nuts and bolts advice for your particular business that  you may be looking for. Rather, the program focuses on a general model of coaching that can be used by many different organizations. It helps people to understand the process of coaching itself.

You need to choose carefully the type of coaching program you want, Kumata and Gentry say. You need to figure out what kind of support you want your coaches to give; you need to make sure that that support matches your company’s goals and strategies. Do you want your coaches to guide a feedback process on performance, such as 360 degree interviews, or to help with orienting new employees, or develop new skills? The amount of training a coach will need depends on the kind of coaching he or she will be doing.

You may want to consult with outside experts with experience in developing coaching programs for businesses.

And, if you want to get the most out of your training of coaches, you need to create an environment in your company where coaching is valued and practiced widely, according to Kumata and Gentry. You need to find out who in your company is the best at coaching and use these individuals as a nucleus around which you build your program. You also need to establish evaluation methods for your coaching and ways of measuring coaching effectiveness to see how well your coaching programs are working.

Need some “coaching” on how to recruit great employees in the New York City area? Then call Winston Resources. We’re experts in sourcing, vetting and placing terrific professionals in temporary, temp-to-hire and direct hire assignments. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yet these kinds of programs have become even more important. Workers are looking to find ways to contribute their time and talents for a good cause, so these programs not only enhance worker morale, they also help them hone their skills and give them the opportunity to develop new ones.

Surveys have shown that recent college graduates are looking for ways to get involved in community service through their employers. In fact, surveys show that an employer’s commitment to community service has a big impact for younger workers on where they choose to work.

There are all types of volunteer services programs, ranging from stints that last just one day to extended oversees activities, where the employees may even go to a developing country. At one company, for example, workers can sign up for a number of different activities during the workday. They include such things as sorting library books at a school in a poor neighborhood, planting flowers in a city park, helping out with getting clothing and other donations, and coaching people on how to do job interviews, as well as helping to prepare lunch at a soup kitchen.

Employees loved the program and even established connections with other people at the company they had not known before. The volunteer program began with just a few departments but has since grown to include the entire business, and more than half of the employees take part.

Some larger companies also sponsor volunteer work oversees, in such places as Brazil, Vietnam and Ghana. Not only do these programs give employees opportunities to develop new skills, they also give the companies a chance to check out possible new markets. Moreover, they can even help employees with career advancement.

Other companies send workers to Central and South America for about three months. They do the same work as at their companies, only at much smaller operations.

So, volunteer opportunities through the workplace offer a lot more than just helping employees feel good. They also help keep workers happy, act as opportunities to develop leadership skills and also scout new business markets.

Winston Resources has been helping New York City’s companies find temporary and direct-hire employees for going on 45 years. We look forward to serving Manhattan’s finest companies for another 45 (and more) years. Contact us today!

This sea change in younger worker attitudes could have a significant impact on human resource departments and the types of retirement packages they help put together for employees.

The survey showed that the biggest shift in attitudes about retirement was among workers under 40.

In the survey, more than half the workers under 40 who were enrolled in some type of pension plan said that they would be agreeable to paying more from each paycheck to make sure of a guaranteed retirement amount. That is about a 10 percent increase from just two years ago.

To conduct the survey, researchers contacted about 10,000 workers in the United States in 2011.

In addition, half of those who responded said they would also be willing to give up some of their pay now to ensure that they would have healthcare coverage if they retired before becoming eligible for Medicare. That is also an increase of about 10 percent from two years ago.

Indeed, rising healthcare costs are an even bigger concern for employees, and about two-thirds said that increasing healthcare costs are the main reason they have become more concerned about having enough money for retirement.

The survey also showed that almost two-thirds of younger employees, and nearly half of all employees, believe that their retirement benefits will be reduced in the next several years. And, while retirement is a concern for many, the survey showed that even more are concerned about healthcare costs, and what their out-of-pocket expenses and co-pays will be.

The results surprised some retirement consultants, who did not think the younger workers would be willing to sacrifice more immediate gratification in the form of reduced paychecks for the sake of something many years in the future.

And, even though more have become aware of retirement planning, retirement consultants say that too many employees still are not taking retirement seriously enough, and are not doing enough to plan for it.

When looking for great temporary and direct-hire workers for your Manhattan-area company, call upon the expert recruiters at Winston Resources. We’ve been matching great people with great companies for 45 years and we look forward to doing the same for your company. Contact us today!