A recent survey of more than 2,300 hiring managers and human resources professionals by CareerBuilder.com showed that more than one-third of them use social media sites to check up on job candidates, about 37 percent. Of those that did, about two-thirds used both Facebook and LinkedIn to review applicants, while only about 15 percent used Twitter.

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!

s you’re getting ready to leave college and enter the “real world,” read below for some tips on how to craft a professional resume, one fit for the corporate world you soon may find yourself in.

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!

If you’re trying to claw back some time out of your busy schedule, what can you do? One thing we can try is to look at things that really amount to little more than busy work in our schedule, but give us the illusion that we are accomplishing something.

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!

Turns out the flexible workplace supporters were right after all: workplace flexibility really does help employees’ health and well-being!

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.

If you’re a college senior, if you haven’t already started looking for a full-time post-graduation job, get moving!

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!

Many employees often undertake big, long-term projects at work. It may be a project with no definite deadline, or with a deadline that is several months away.

These are the projects that often create the most anxiety, says business consultant Peter Bregman. Sometimes they lead to procrastination, until the deadline looms before you. Often, you may not even know what you need to do to get started, and when you do start, you find that you don’t know everything you need to know or have the skills you need to finish it, Bregman says. And, other more urgent things keep popping up, so we lay the long-term project aside.

The standard advice to getting a big project done is to break it up into smaller parts, concentrate on the next step to move ahead, and set incremental deadlines along the way. It’s good advice, Bregman says, but it’s not enough.

It’s not enough because it doesn’t address the real culprit behind our procrastination – our fear of failure. We are afraid that we will fail, Bregman says, that we will spend all of our time on it, neglecting other things, and in the end it won’t be very good anyway.
So how do we handle this fear – the elephant in the room?

Don’t pretend it’s not there, Bregman says, acknowledge that you are afraid. Don’t try to downplay it, because that is just another form of denial – denying the reality of the situation. It’s a natural feeling. Moreover, Bregman says, by trying to ignore it, we stoke that fear even more, because it’s always there in the background gnawing at us.

But by admitting to your fear, you also are admitting that you may not be able to meet your expectations, Bregman says. By doing this, you are acknowledging that your effort is not going to be perfect.  This will help you get started, because it is that desire for perfection, or something close to it, that often prevents us from moving ahead.

Also, by accepting your fear, you also are accepting the fact that you don’t have everything you need to get your project done, and this in turn will spur you to seek out the information, skills or other support you need, Bregman says.

After you have confronted and accepted your fear, make the project a priority. In fact, Bregman says, make it one of your top five priorities. To do this, you may have to figure out what you are going to bump off your priority list in order to make room for the project.

Then, he says, you can go back to the standard advice of breaking it up into parts focusing on those parts and setting deadlines in your calendar.

When you need great people for either temporary or direct-hire assignments at your Manhattan-based company, call upon the recruiters at Winston Resources to find you skilled and reliable professionals. Contact us today!

If you are looking for work right now, you may want to take a look at larger companies.

Recent poll results show that larger companies – those with 500 employees or more — are more likely to be hiring than smaller companies. But the survey showed that almost 75 percent of companies are doing some hiring for full-time employees.

The survey of more than 2,000 companies was conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management to gauge the ongoing impact of the recession  on companies’ hiring and their bottom line.

Most of the hiring, about 75 percent, is for levels below management — hourly and salaried positions. More than half of the businesses surveyed are hiring for management positions. About 20 percent are hiring at executive levels.

Almost three-fourths of the companies surveyed said they had lost about 10 percent of their employees or fewer in 2011. That is actually up from 2010, where about two-thirds of companies said they had lost 10 percent or fewer employees. Only about one-tenth of the companies reported laying off between 10 and 20 percent of the workforce. About one-tenth of the companies surveyed reported laying off between 20 and 50 percent of their workforce.

As far as the financial health of businesses is concerned, most reported little change from 2010 to 2011. Two-thirds said things had pretty much stayed the same or had improved a little, while the other third said they had experienced a small decline.

In 2011, a majority of companies, nearly two-thirds, indicated that they were hiring to replace people, but only about a third  are hiring for new positions. Only about one-tenth of the companies surveyed said they were adding new duties to current positions.

The survey also showed that the small companies, those with fewer than 100 employees, were most likely to be hiring for new positions.

More than half of the new positions created require new skills, along with the same kinds of skills needed in the past. About 15 percent of the new jobs created, however, require completely new sets of skills. About one-fourth of the new jobs require the same skill sets as jobs did before the recession. When a job required new skills, almost two-thirds of the companies surveyed said they had difficulty finding people to fill the positions, especially smaller companies.

When you’re looking for work, look to Winston Resources. We have connections with hundreds of New York City’s best companies – both small and large – and we can help you get your foot in the door through a temporary, temp-to-hire or direct-hire assignment. Contact us today!

Although getting laid off can be a traumatic experience, experts say you shouldn’t panic. You need to be calm and levelheaded to plan a course of action for while you are unemployed and to plan a strategy for finding another job.

There are several things you can do to help yourself get through this tough time, according to Chuck Koeber, a professor at Wichita State University.

One of the first things you should do is apply for unemployment benefits. If you wait to file, you might not get reimbursed for the time before you applied.

Many employers and unions have resources available for employees who have been laid off, such as job counseling. Check with your former employer and union to find out what they have available and how you can access them.

Labor departments, at the state or county level, also have resources for people who have been laid off, such as help centers. You should make use of these resources as well.

Have a plan, Koeber says. Draw up a written plan of action with the things you are going to do, the strategy you are going to follow, in looking for a job. And use the plan to schedule your time. Don’t just make things up as you go along. This will only extend the time it takes you to find a job, needlessly drawing out the anxiety that goes along with it. Do a self-assessment to help identify your skills and abilities. There are many sites on the internet than can help with this, such as www.jobskills.info.

Don’t shut yourself off from your family. Talk with your spouse and children about what has happened and how they feel about it. Ask for their support.

Keep an eye on your budget. You are going to have to make changes in your lifestyle. Try not to run up too much debt. Watch your credit card use. Try to stay away from using retirement funds. If you need some financial counseling, groups like the Consumer Credit Counseling Service can help.

If you are depressed, or otherwise emotionally disturbed as a result of what has happened, look for professional help. Many communities and universities offer low-cost counseling.

And don’t forget engaging the services of a staffing service such as Winston Resources. We can help you secure temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments with some of New York City’s best companies. We often find that our temporary workers eventually find regular, full-time work via a temporary assignment. Contact us today!

In work, as in life, there inevitably will be failure along with success. Some failures are more spectacular than others, ones we think we may never recover from.

Losing a job could fall into this category. Perhaps you lost a job because of a major mistake. It may seem as if you’ll never recover from it.

But there is a road back. Regardless of how big the mistake or how steep the fall, you can resurrect your career. It is more a matter of attitude than anything else. In fact, it’s more about you than your circumstances. It’s about your resiliency, your ability to bounce back from a setback. Studies of leaders, including corporate leaders, have shown that it wasn’t their successes that made them, but how they reacted to and recovered from failure. It is really this recovery from failure that is key to molding and defining leaders.

Life, as Walter Lippmann has said, is elastic, not brittle. Your error does not cause things to shatter, but to bend. The key is not giving up. You are not a failure when you fail, only when you quit. Or, in other words, fall down seven times, get up eight, as a Japanese proverb has it. You will have to contend with your past as you work your way back, as it is likely to come up, but you cannot let that stop you.

It is also important to understand why you failed, so that you can take steps to remedy the problem.

You want to assess your strengths and use them. You need to put the knowledge and the skills you have to use, according to Suzanne Lucas, a human relations counselor.

You should also be willing to make big changes, Lucas says. You may have to go in a different direction. You may have to try things that are completely new.

And this ability to start over will be a test of your energy and purpose and resilience. You will need to realize that the climb back up will not be easy. It will require a lot of hard work, and it won’t happen overnight.

If you’ve had some career setbacks, give one of Winston Resources’ recruiters a call and discuss – we may be able to help you get back on your “career” feet. We look forward to hearing from you!

You are out of work and actively looking for a job. You have had an offer, but it’s something you are not thrilled about. You are way overqualified for it, and it doesn’t pay nearly as much as you had been making. What should you do?

Some would counsel passing on the offer. It is not the right fit, they would say. If you don’t like the job, you won’t be happy doing it and that will show up in your performance. Also, being hired at a lower salary level will affect future earnings and benefits.

But there are advantages to taking the job. You know the old saw, “A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”

The fact is that with the unemployment needle stuck at more than nine percent, you never know how long you will be waiting until another offer comes along. And there is also the unfortunate reluctance on the part of many companies to even consider people who are currently unemployed. Also, the longer you remain unemployed, the more your skills deteriorate, which will in itself affect your employability.

And sometimes, taking the lower level job leads to something better, along with a better salary. You might be able to learn new skills. Also, you will meet new people, giving you the opportunity to network and find out about other positions. And being employed will make you a more attractive candidate for other job openings.

The fact is that today a steady climb up the job ladder may not be as realistic as it may have been in the past. You may find you need to make some lateral moves or even a few steps back required in order to get back on track.

Being employed also has other intangible benefits. It certainly helps your self-esteem. And it also helps if you take a different perspective on the situation – not letting yourself be defined by your job. It may be an opportunity to broaden your life, to try new things outside of work, develop new interests, to become a more well-rounded person. In short, in may help you to realize that you are more than your job, and help you to take a more balanced view of your life.

Getting employed quickly in a down market is where staffing services such as Winston Resources can be of great help. Apply with us and we could have you working quickly within temporary, temporary-to-hire and even direct-hire assignments with some of New  York City’s best companies. Contact us today!