ProRecruiters

Happy November!  We are quickly approaching Thanksgiving, which is a time for expressing gratitude.  This month, I want to talk about the power of expressing gratitude.  This November, we have done a gratitude wall with the goal of having a wall full come the end of the month. The gratitude’s do not have to be big; they only have to be meaningful.  One staff member was grateful that she had co-workers who supported her when her baby was sick, and they did not guilt her for bringing her child to work.  Others were grateful for working in a drama-free office, or for supportive spouses.  Giving ourselves the space to be thankful for all that we have helps us to see just how much we often take for granted. Lunch with a client; having clients; my three-year-old very passionately ending her dinner prayer with “Awe Ha!” instead of “Amen”; gas in my tank, having a car; the ability to exercise; family nearby; the love of friends and family; the humility and fear of parenting; a loving

Over years of successes and failures, we have developed a process, both internally and externally, to identify stealer employees. We have an unconventional approach to growing our database of candidates.    Instead of taking on each and every applicant, we carefully vet through them in hopes of identifying the people who are true professionals in every sense of the world, or who we believe have the potential to grow into the best. This is how we do it 1. Get to know the person Any new hire will impact our organization far beyond the specialized skills they contribute. Knowing each and every clients culture is imperative to finding the right match.  We have each applicant go through an on-line application then we conduct a phone interview and a face to face interview.  Through the course of this process we try to assess who the person is behind the suit and behind the resume.  We ask questions like: “What are you most passionate about? What gets you up in the morning? How do

CS Lewis said, “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”  Trying times can threaten to overcome us in the moment, but if we endure, they can often result in great blessings.  This month, I want to share a personal story to provide hope and laughter as we push towards the last quarter of 2017. About a year ago, my daughter Katie’s dwarf hamster got out of her cage.  If any of you have ever had one of these little buggers, then you know that they run fast and can flatten themselves in a New York minute to escape!  Here is the e-mail I sent her that depicts the evening events and the humor and blessings that come from hardships.  Katie, last night was a tough night for us, but through the pain, your amazing little soul shined bright.  Your precious little hamster Minnie escaped her cage.  I had been on your case to fill up her food bowl and finally I said, “You must fill up her bowl tonight.”  I was failing to remember that she was your responsibilit

Happy August!  H. P. Lovecraft said, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Fear is a powerful emotion.  It can drive us to make changes. It can paralyze us. Business owners and managers are not immune to fear! Unfortunately, in many situations we cannot predict the future. This month, I want to talk about handling fear and change in the workplace . Over the past year, I have experienced a lot of change within my company.  I have lost employees to expanding families, moving spouses, family needs, or better jobs.  I have lost clients because of economic factors and personal transitions. These situations are guaranteed to cause fear. The question is, “Will we respond to the fear by being paralyzed or by being motivated ?” Fear that paralyzes is not productive. However, fear that motivates can sometimes be one of the biggest factors in propelling you to growth.  So what’s the difference between all

Happy July! This month, I want to discuss helpful and appropriate feedback .  Giving frequent feedback—good and bad—is important to the growth of your employees. Many employers unfortunately wait until the end-of-the-year reviews to consider successes and failures. I imagine that one of the main reasons for why people do not give regular feedback is that they become anxious about employees’ responses. If this is one of that factors that prevents you from offering frequent input, then let me offer the following tips to you to help create a positive environment. First, lead with questions . Often, employers start a review with the intent of leading employees to seeing a situation from the employers’ perspective. This can be met with defensiveness. A much more helpful approach is to be transparent about your intentions. Further, approach the meeting with curiosity, describing your observations and asking many questions about them. When employees see that you are legitimately interes

Happy June!  Summer, here we come!  This month I want to discuss coaching .  I have talked before about utilizing a coach.  Now, I want to talk about being a coach.  I have been blessed with three different coaches across my nine-plus years with ProRecruiters.  They have challenged me to grow by evaluating what I’ve done and what I’m doing in order to determine what I will do going forward. Unfortunately, I do not always serve as a coach to my own team. Creating an environment in which you function as coach to your team benefits everyone. It helps you to see what’s working, what’s not, and potential areas of growth. It allows team members to discover their potential by being challenged to excel. It reveals potential problems while they are still “potential” problems.  And the cherry on top: it builds camaraderie throughout the team. As I have researched coaching, I’ve learned several foundational principles that must be in play if you want to create a team atmosphere. First, coa

Happy May! Congratulations to all those who are graduating.  Since we are in the midst of graduation season, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the expectations of employers and new graduates.  Typically, employers and recent graduates have different sets of expectations upon entering the work force.  Therefore, it is necessary to bridge the gap between what is expected from new graduates and what is expected from employers. Leadership, initiative, time management, goal setting, and organization are qualities that employers and hiring managers expect from new hires.  However, these expectations may be overwhelming and far too generalized for recent graduates unless specifically communicated.  In order to clearly communicate expectations, a suggestion would be to create a mentor program to help guide them through this new set of expectations.  The suggested mentor program can establish a relationship between a new employee and a trusted mentor within the company.  This tr

Happy March!  Spring is upon us!  With March also comes St. Patrick’s Day. How often have you heard about the “luck o’ the Irish” at this time? This made me think about the need for luck in hiring. Strong companies rely on solid employees if they want to provide high-quality service to clientele as well as to spark new ideas and bring diversity to the table. However, weaker employees can not only prevent such success, but can actually cause harm to the process. I have heard business owners and managers lament such situations: “Everything would be perfect if I didn’t have to deal with employees!” How can this situation emerge? What is the difference between hiring employees that create life for the company over those that drag the company down? The answer is often this: companies find themselves in a perceived rush to bring in help that they fail to assess whether a potential employee really is the best fit. The result: they hire people who do not truly belong. Talk about some bad luck

Happy February!  Last month, someone posed the following questions to me regarding ProRecruiters: Why do we exist; What is our purpose; and How do we contribute to a better world? How I responded surprised me; it was inspiring and made me feel incredibly proud. Brett and I started Part-Time Pros, now ProRecruiters, in March of 2008.  We started it with a vision of being a resource to people who wanted to have a balanced life.  We had our first daughter, Katie, and after six months of daycare schlepping, no time with her, and juggling a forty-hour work week, I thought, “This is stupid!”  Now, understand that I love working hard. But I wanted to be able to continue to work but have the flexibility to work in such a way that I could value the things that are most important in my life, too.  So we created Part-Time Pros.  Our first core value is to provide a healthy work/life balance to our team and clients.  And while I personally had no balance for the first five years, I am happy t

Happy 2017!  A new year brings an opportunity to reflect on goals from the past year, and to set goals for the next one. Though I certainly love the rest and relaxation that come with the holiday season, I eagerly anticipate the busyness and excitement of the first month of a new year! Each year, I challenge my team to develop three to five individual goals. In our year-end reviews, we reflect on those goals and create strategies for achieving them. Unfortunately, these well-planned, carefully considered goals are often discussed, written down, and then forgotten over the course of the year. I want 2017 to be different! Setting and achieving personal and professional goals can fundamentally change your journey toward success. But if you do not regularly put them in front of you and if you do not create accountability for achieving them, then you are unlikely to accomplish them. What separates good from great is the ability to grow through setting goals. I don’t want to settle