People who work primarily at home report having more satisfaction with their job than those who work mostly at the office, according to a study from the University of Wisconsin.

The major advantage of working at home (which, according to the study, is telecommuting at least three days a week), is that there is less friction between a person’s work and his or her private life.  Those who are critical of telecommuting usually cite as a reason the relative lack of communication between the telecommuter and the office.  But those in the study said this really was not an issue with them, and that although they didn’t share news as often as those who worked in the office, they could access information whenever they needed to.

Those who conducted the study gave several reasons for the increased job satisfaction of telecommuting.  One reason is that those working from home have fewer distractions that can interrupt those who work at the office.  They are exposed to less of the stress-inducing events that go on in the office.  There are no office politics or frequent meetings to deal with.

The results of the study suggest that there are advantages for organizations to actually decrease the amount of personal contact that occurs at work.  The researchers also said the study points to the importance of dealing with the things at work that cause job satisfaction to suffer.

They suggested other ways of limiting superfluous personal interaction, such as cutting down on meetings and mass e-mails, making communication more efficient by creating a central location for accessing important information, and setting aside time periods specifically for people to work without interruption.  They also said it is important to create an environment at work were employees can feel comfortable talking about their concerns without fearing some kind of negative reaction.

According to one survey, most senior executives believe that telecommuting is most appropriate for staff level employees rather than managers.  The survey tallied responses from 100 senior executives from Canada, and 150 in the United States.  Some 32 percent of the Canadian executives responding and more than 40 percent of the U.S. executives believe that telecommuting is more appropriate for staff employees.  Only 28 percent of the Canadian executives and 18 percent of the American executives believe that telecommuting is right for managers.  Moreover, more than two-thirds of the Americans responding and more than one-half of the Canadians said senior executives at their firms hardly ever telecommute.

When looking for your next great position, contact Winston Resources. We have many openings at some of New York City’s finest firms. We look forward to hearing from you.

When interviewing for a job, you naturally are trying your best to impress a prospective employer, and much of your time has most likely been spent preparing for an interviewer’s questions.

But it is important to remember that a job interview is a two-way street.  You need to make sure that this is a place where you want to work, a place where you will be happy.  Toward that end, you need to do some interviewing of your own.  Your research about the company will probably turn up questions you will want answered at the interview, and you should have them ready, even written down.

One area to avoid, however, is salary and benefits.  Wait for the interviewer to bring up this topic before discussing it.

But beyond that, don’t be afraid to learn as much about the job as you can.  For example, you might ask about a typical day’s duties for the job you are applying for, what your top priority should be in the job, what the day-to-day expectations and responsibilities are, what the company’s management style is, what the company’s corporate culture is like, what the company’s values are.

Other possible questions: What is the policy on transfers to other departments and divisions, does the organization support ongoing training for employees to stay up to date, can you make a lateral job move?  You might even want to ask the interviewer why he or she came to the company and why he or she stays.  How long has he or she been with the organization, and what is his or her management style?  How has his or her career progressed within the organization?  What obstacles does he or she see in meeting careeer goals?

You may want to know how the department is viewed by other areas of the organization.  What are the advancement opportunities?  What are the characteristics and skills of the people who are the most successful in the organization?

You may glean some information about a company’s growth from research, or it may come up during the course of the interview, but if it does not, it is important to know if a company is growing or not, and where the growth is occurring.

Finally, if you are given a tour of the department, don’t be afraid to talk to current employees – or ask to talk to employees.   Ask them some of the questions outlined above.  How do they like working there?  What do they think of the boss?

Want to interview with some of New York City’s best companies? Contact Winston Resources. We are one of Manhattan’s premier staffing services and we can help you land great temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments. We look forward to hearing from you!

If your Winston Resources staffing consultant contacts you about a temp-to-hire position, this is good news. It means if you take the assignment and do well in it, the employer may decide to hire you onto its own payroll.

A temp-to-hire assignment is really the best of both worlds. You can “try out” a company and job before deciding if it’s what you want to do. The company also is  taking a look at you to see if you’re a good fit for the position as well as the company culture.

In short, a temp-to-hire assignment is a terrific “foot in the door.”

However, you should know upfront that accepting a temp-to-hire assignment does not guarantee that you will be hired by the client company, even if you want to be. Things sometimes just don’t work out. The client company may decide it doesn’t need to hire a “regular” employee for the position after all. The person who left — causing a vacancy — returns. The company decides to tighten its payroll and eliminates the position altogether.

But when a temp-to-hire position doesn’t make it to the “hire” part, it’s usually because you or the company decides you’re not a good fit.

If the company decides to let you go, it may believe you don’t have the skills to do the job or the temperament to fit in with the company’s culture.

If you do decide you like the position and the opportunity it presents to you and you want to be hired by the company, here are some tips to help you do so:

• If the client company mentions to you that it would like to hire you, contact us immediately. You may been placed on what we thought was a temporary assignment, but your excellent skills and work ethic wowed the company enough that it decided it didn’t want to lose you. Do NOT work out the details of your hire with the client company; that’s our job.
• Do all you can to work as hard as others in the company who are doing the same job/tasks as you. In fact, if you can outperform those co-workers, all the better (just don’t be snarky about it).
• Always have a positive attitude. Think of yourself as already being a full team member; never have the attitude that you’re “just” a temp.
• Let us and the client company know you’d like to get hired on. Don’t announce this each and every day, but when you’ve decided that you enjoy the temp-to-hire assignment and  you feel working full-time at the company is in your best interests, let your on-site supervisor know. Let us know, too, so that we can make the proper arrangements.
• If you’ve been on the assignment for a few days or weeks and decide the position is just not for you, please let us know ASAP. We’ll work hard to find you another assignment quickly. We’ll also let our client know and we’ll begin finding another person to take on the temp-to-hire position.

Looking to take the next step in your career? Contact Winston Resources. We offer workers in the NYC area some of the highest-quality temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments at some of New York City’s best companies.