Advice from a sage businessman

This is Alan Ketzes. Alan is a chair at Vistage International with the role of business coach to over 60 CEOs in the Metro Atlanta area. He thrives on bringing executives together through peer groups, giving one-on-one coaching, and has driven many executives and their businesses to new heights. 

In this 2 1/2 minute video, Alan offers a time-saving suggestion that he gives to his clients, and he believes this can help your business as well. We personally loved his answer and hopefully you will, too. Enjoy Alan Ketzes! 

https://youtu.be/rtwLe6pVsko

Selecting the Best Interview Questions

I am often asked to suggest good interview strategies. What questions are the best? To help you make the most of the interview experience, consider using some of my favorite questions:

QUESTION: Tell me about a situation in a past job or organization where you encountered some conflict, and how did you address or handle it?

This question reveals these important indicators: 

• This is a fairly complex question. Can the candidate recall a situation on the fly, and then provide a cohesive answer? Their response helps me understand if they can think on their feet, can handle something quickly, can determine a good answer, and then deliver a well-considered reply.  
• How they have handled conflict in the past is a predictor of how they will handle it in the future. If they answer that it was all the fault of the other person, and the supervisor had to handle it, or the candidate simply left the company, that is probably not a good response. If their answer includes how they addressed the conflict directly with the person and talked it out with them, meeting halfway to handle the situation, that is the preferred response.
• If they say they have never had a job with any conflict, that is a big red flag. This candidate is either not truthful or they can’t think on their feet.

QUESTION: At XYZ company, we value helping fellow employees and we are FOR each other. When in a previous position, have you been able to help a coworker get recognized for something they have done or help them achieve success?

Here’s what I am looking for here:

• This is a good one to figure out if they are FOR other people or FOR themselves. To me, this is a significant factor in evaluating a candidate. If they can never remember a time that they helped a peer, then you don’t want them on your team.
• This might give the candidate a glimpse into who you are as a future employer. They may not believe in this value. They may be such a self-centered driver that it is all about them. In this case, your environment would not be good for them, and they might self-select out. 

QUESTION: What is one thing that you would like to be better at in five years?

Look for these things:

• I like someone to be self-aware. Do they know where their weaknesses are, and are they willing to share one with you?  If they answer this quickly, that’s a good indicator. If they don’t, that means that they haven’t thought about this lately and are not trying to self-improve. Ask me this question right now, and I have a list of five things in my head that I am trying to improve upon. That is what you would like to see.
• I am looking for a humble employee. If they are open to share their developmental issues with you, then they are likely humble and this could signify a good candidate.  

Searching for more questions?  Here are 30 you may also want to consider.

When you work with Innovative Outsourcing, we provide you with the finest candidates. Work with us for your next open position. Our outreach identifies the best candidates, and then we use personality testing, phone screening, and in-person interviews to select the best two candidates for your review. Then, we schedule the interviews, and you simply ask some of these good questions.  It’s easy when you let us help!

New I-9 Form. Did you meet the deadline?

No one likes to hear the word "audit". However, like Mondays, they always seem to come around eventually. Make sure your records are flawless by reviewing these newly released guidelines from USCIS regarding the I-9 form.

USCIS released a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, on July 17. Effective Sept. 18, employers must use the revised form with a revision date of 07/17/17 N at the bottom. Employers must continue following existing storage and retention rules for any previously completed Form I-9. There were some minor changes to verbiage on the form. But the more significant changes relate to the List of Acceptable Documents.

Revisions related to the List of Acceptable Documents on Form I-9:

• The Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) was added to List C. Employers completing Form I-9 on a computer will be able to select Form FS-240 from the drop-down menus available in List C of Sections 2 and 3. E-Verify users will also be able to select Form FS-240 when creating a case for an employee who has presented this document for Form I-9.
• All the certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350, and Form FS-240) were combined into selection C #2 in List C.
• All List C documents except the Social Security card were renumbered. For example, the employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security on List C changed from List C #8 to List C #7.

All these changes are in the revised Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274), which is also easier for users to navigate than before. Please visit the USCIS website for more details.

We know it's important to you to maintain a legal workforce. While the changes to the new I-9 form are minimal, failure to comply effective with the September 18th implementation date can result in significant fines for your organization. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced increases in fines for Form I-9 violations last year. So make sure all employees with hiring responsibilities in your company have scrapped the old form and are using the new one. 

Please reach out to you Innovative Outsourcing Account Manager if you need additional information or if you have any current staffing need. We are hear to help you.

So Dec 1 is the new April Fools' Day for the Dept. of Labor

Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing updates you on a new court ruling that may affect you.

Over the past few months, we have been keeping you up-to-date on the December 1 implementation of the Department of Labor’s White Collar Overtime Exemption, raising the minimum annual wage (salaried or hourly) for overtime exemption to $47,400.  

But it is 2016, and in keeping with the year’s theme of “expect the unexpected,” last week a federal judge blocked the rule, siding with 21 states and an organized business group, siting that the “rule is unlawful and granted their motion for a nationwide injunction,” according to Reutters.

This means that this regulation has been delayed, as the Department of Labor now files an appeal.  In light of the changing political climate, even a successful appeal could be “Trumped” by new legislation, or the incoming Department of Labor may withdraw it all together.

What does this mean for you?

The December 1, 2016 implementation is no longer required, and at this moment, no one really knows what will happen.

What do we recommend?

If you have procrastinated and done nothing, this is one time that you might actually be reaping the reward. Keep an eye open for a new date and possible implementation, but this may never happen.

If you have made pay changes already in anticipation of this, you will need to make a decision to pull back or continue.  Again, we have no way of knowing when (or if) this will be enacted.

Plans for tracking and reporting hours

I know that many of you have put in place a method to report hours for all employees due to this implementation.  My recommendation is to keep this in place. For many reasons, it would be a good idea to have all employees report hours.  It is a safeguard for you in this litigious climate.  And it is also a prudent practice for your employees to view the hours they spend in an ongoing self-evaluation of their time management.

The bottom line

For many businesses like yours, this means you may have earmarked money for overtime that now can be channeled into staff expansion instead.  Consider hiring a part-time employee to help ease the work load of your full-time staff. We have great talent waiting for an opportunity to bring their highly professional skills to work for you part time.  Just give me a call, and we can talk about your specific needs.

So the calendar says December 1, but when it comes to raising the overtime exemption minimum compensation, it feels more like April Fools' Day instead!

How to craft a plan to keep your best employees

Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing, offers her advice.

Your best employee may have just accepted a new job offer, and the resignation letter is heading to your desk.

In our message last week, and continuing today, I’d like to share with you some alarming statistics on employee turnover, and then offer some equipping advice that can hopefully buffer you from this trend.  A recent Forbes article sited two research sources indicating that 74% of current workers would consider finding a new job, and 35% of those workers are actively seeking a new job. Your business is not insulated from this alarming trend, but there is a strategy you can implement now to improve your chance of retaining your talent. 

So last week, my message asked you to sort the names of your direct reports onto three lists  1) Excellent Employees, 2) Worst Employees, and 3) Everyone in Between.  Then your assignment was to ponder the names on your Excellent Employees list.  It is for those people that we will now be crafting a retention plan.

First, let’s consider the reasons people leave their job.  For each person on your Excellent Employees list, fill in their name as you read each reason:

1. __________ doesn’t feel valued
2. __________ feels they have a bad manager
3. __________ perceives there is a lack of communication
4. __________'s efforts aren’t recognized (pay)
5. __________ did not get a deserved promotion
6. __________ feels a perceived or real lack of training
7. __________ thinks that there is no chance for promotion
8. __________ has too much work
9. __________ doesn't trust management 
10. __________ doesn’t connect to the mission (purpose)

Did this raise some red flags? For example:

• Do they love words of encouragement and due to busyness, those have been few and far between?  
• Has that person stayed at $28/hr for the past three years without a pay raise?  
• Have you increased her workload because she is the most trustworthy, with greatest follow through, so now she works 50 hours a week?  
• Have you not painted a path upon which he can progress in his career and his pay as he develops within your company?  

Identify at least two things on this list of ten that stick out right now as a potential issue for each of your Excellent Employees. In our last message, I asked you to assign a rank from zero to ten of how likely that person is to resign, (remembering that a great employee for whom you think the flight risk is at zero may resign tomorrow).  This will help you assess the urgency of your necessary action. Then construct an plan for those two critical areas.  For example:

• Raise her pay to 5% above market rate by six months from now
• Send her to a leadership development program each month so that she feels you are investing in her and she is becoming more valuable in leading the company.

Now you have at least two action steps in place for each Excellent Employee, and you can prioritize each step based upon pending urgency.

Do you feel this seems rather simple? Actually, I have seen time and time again that this deliberate and consistent approach slows the leak of a company’s best talent.  When you focus on retaining your excellent employees, you can RETAIN MOST OF THEM.  When you consider the expense of employee turnover, even while considering your preventative investment (of your time and company resources), the savings is huge.

Remember those other two lists, the Worst Employees, and Everyone in Between? Stay tuned!  I’ll be sharing some helpful suggestions for those employees, too.  

image: womensday.com

Speed-hiring in today's job market

Does this hiring scenario sound familiar?

"Our company needs a part-time executive assistant:
        7 days = candidate search
        5 days = find time to act on this and conduct interviews
        5 days = waiting until CEO can meet top candidates
        2 days = discuss and decide, offer Candidate A the job
But Candidate A just accepted another job.  So we offer Candidate B the position, only to find that she has been snapped up by another company, as well. Almost three weeks have passed, and we are back to square-one in the hiring process."

Wait... wasn't it just yesterday that you and I were learning the technique of hire slow and fire fast?  Yes, I even spoke on that very topic to CEO groups when this was the “winning” equation. But it seems that times are changing.This is a CANDIDATE market. 

In many job categories, we are seeing a shortage of great candidates.  This means that to “win” the best ones, we all need to take a look at shortening our hiring timeline.  Never before has a "hurry-up offense" been such a determining factor in filling a vacancy with the very best person. USA Today recently reported, "Employers who took their sweet time making hiring decisions just a few years ago, are scrambling to snag candidates in as little as a day for fear of losing them to competitors in a tight labor market.” (Read that article. It's an eye-opener!)

What does it mean to quicken the pace of hiring? No, don't skip steps. You need to still run background checks, reference checks (in detail), do personality profiles, and hold multiple interviews.  But the time between these steps must be compressed. Here's how:

• Conduct interviews as soon as candidates are pre-screened. Don't wait a week, opening the window for a competing job to grab their attention.
• Get back to the candidate within 24 hours. Normally you know within the first five minutes if this could be the right person for the job.
• Need a second set of interviews? Complete that within the next 48 hours.
• Now tell your top candidate that you are going to make an offer in three days while you await the results of the background and reference checks. 
• Then send a job offer in writing AFTER making a verbal offer either in person or by phone. 

"But I don't have time for this right now." If you don’t have time for interviews, for follow-ups, and to make a decision, then this is not the time to hire.  

"Help! I have a business to run, too." A hiring company like Innovative Outsourcing is skilled to help with most of the heavy lifting.

Take advantage of a good staffing firm who will perform 40 to 80 hours of the hiring homework for you. Then all you need to do is set aside time for interviews immediately when candidates become available.  Next, make a decision within one or two days. Otherwise, the BEST candidates will accept other positions with companies who act faster.  While your vacancy will eventually be filled, are you really willing to settle for a second-tier candidate because you unintentionally delayed the process?  

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and how Innovative Outsourcing can help you adjust to this hurry-up hiring strategy.  I'm now dedicating resources to identify the very best candidates, and prequalify them so we are way ahead in the pre-screening process.  When you call on us looking for a specific type of person to fill a vacancy, we are ready to go with an inventory of awesome candidates ready to meet you. 

Here's why your company should consider hiring part-time staff

Cindi Filer, CEO & Owner Innovative Outsourcing

Lately, I’ve been hearing from some very reliable sources that businesses need to be planning now for what may be some serious changes in the economy, and I thought that you may be interested in how evaluating your staffing strategy now may help your business weather potential storms on the horizon.

Briefly, here are some key issues I thought you may want to consider, and then I’d be happy to help you think through how your company could benefit by increasing your part-time staffing in an effort to buffer possible economy impact.

Election and market uncertainty –
While no one can with certainty predict how this unprecedented political climate will affect our businesses, we can increase flexible staffing now, so that we can bend rather than break in a possible storm of monetary policy changes or decrease in consumer spending. If you focus on hiring part-time employees, you can increase or decrease hours depending on your revenues and needs.  A 20-hour person can flex up to 30 hours a week, or down to 10.  For example, if you hired two 20-hour per week people as opposed to one full time, their combined hours could go from 20 to 60 instead of just 40 regardless.  This results in COST FLEXIBILITY.

Great full time people getting hard to find –
With the Atlanta unemployment rate for professionals this low, you might be scaling the bottom trying to find new full-time employees or to retain your current great full-time staff.  The pool of part-time candidates is still fresh and excellent, making the hiring processes fantastic. Instead competing with the masses for one mediocre full timer, you get could hire two amazing part timers. This results in a BETTER WORKFORCE for your business.

Affordable Care Act –
It is true that you must pay benefits for workers in excess of 30 hours a week.  Part-time workers get their benefits usually from a primary family wage earner and don’t require benefits.  Imagine the savings when you can REDUCE BENEFIT EXPENSE.

Reduce risk –
Innovative Outsourcing offers many staffing options.  If you prefer, we can keep your staff on our payroll until you are ready to make them your permanent employee. Therefore, we take the risk of unemployment insurance.  You just commit to paying for them for the time they have worked.  And nothing else.  You assume LESS FINANCIAL RISK.

Extra set of hands –
Is there an area in your company that could use a new person, but you are unsure if this level of work will continue or if it is truly a full-time requirement?  A part-time person could provide needed relief for your current staff, reducing overtime and pressure of looming tasks.  This results in IMPROVED STAFF MORALE and PRODUCTIVITY.

Let’s get started on this plan together.  For 20 years, we have been the part-time staffing experts, and we can take this initiative and help you run with it today.  We have great part-time people identified and ready for the perfect company like (XYZ company).

• Bookkeeper
• Controller
• Executive Assistant
• Office Manager
• Customer Service
• Sales Assistant
• Marketing Coordinator
• Writer
• Human Resources Manager

If you need full-time staffing in these ares, we have access to the best candidates for those positions, too.

Instead reacting when we are in the midst of a downturn, let’s work together so your staffing is ready no matter what the next year holds for your business.  If you want to read more about the benefits of hiring part-time staff, here is a good article I recommend.

Please contact me at 404-518-5809 or just send a quick email reply.  Let's schedule a 15-minute call to talk about the next steps.

Why You Should Keep Your Resume Up to Date

Sure, you may not be looking for a new job. You may even love your current job. But sometimes great opportunities appear out of nowhere and you will wish your resume was ready to go. Or you may even want to pick up a side job that requires you to send off a resume. Many conferences and speaking engagements even require an updated resume. Whatever the reason, you should keep your resume up to date at all times.

Looking back through years worth of work is tough and it can be harder to recall projects or important updates. Do you keep your resume somewhere that you can easily access it? You’ll not only need it to keep it updated, but you’ll want to make sure you don’t have to start from scratch each time you need your resume.

Here are a few things you can do to keep your resume updated:

1. Always add new titles and roles as you receive them.

2. Update current positions with new job responsibilities.

3. Update new projects once complete.

4. Incorporate relevant accomplishments once achieved.

There are numerous reasons you may need an updated resume quickly. If you use the tools above to update, you won’t have to spend a lot of time on it when you need it.

We’re always happy to help with resumes - reach out to us if you’d like to chat!

5 Questions to Ask Before Starting the Hiring Process

Are you contemplating hiring a new employee for your business? The decision to hire someone new, especially for a brand new position, is not an easy one. This big decision requires a lot of thought and there are many things to consider first.  

A few things you should ask yourself first:

1. Are you relying heavily on external vendors and contractors?

2. Is current revenue at or above target and expected to grow?

3. Are your current employees working more overtime?

4. What is your growth like?

5. Are you set up to handle more employees?

Answering the above questions will help you determine where you’re at as a company and if it’s time to hire a new position to help out.

Once you decide it is indeed time to hire, [read our recent post on figuring out if the new employee should be part-time or full-time]. Part-time employees can help out more than you would think, and doesn’t mean they have less experience.

Need some help with the hiring process or even figuring if it’s right for your business? Give us a call! We’d love to help.