January 9th, 2012 by Kira
When we surveyed our clients, we heard similar reasons as to why they were happy with the experience of working with FORTIS and bringing in an outside company to support them in their hiring needs.
Here are some of the TOP benefits we’ve heard:
- We save you a lot of time digging through resumes, screening initial applicants, and coordinating schedules and interviews.
- We allow you to see only the best, most qualified candidates, after they’ve been screened and interviewed – leaving the company with just a few interviews to conduct.
- We know how to properly screen and filter applicants.
- We save you time and energy in coordinating the process, from posting on job boards, to gathering the information for the position, to screening applicants.
- We understand how culture works, and look for candidates that not only match the position, but match the culture of the company as well.
- We are able to make the process happen much faster, as it’s our sole focus, whereas a hiring manager within the company is often tasked with many responsibilities.
- We specialize in finding individuals within finance and accounting.
- Before the company sees any candidates, we’ve taken the time to understand your company, the culture, and the needs of the position and then deliver exactly what you are looking for. The process doesn’t stop there, with frequent check-ins, follow ups, and ongoing support.
- We focus on a solution for the company, and not filling a position.
- We make the process less stressful, less complicated, and at the end of the day make the hiring manager look good!
Do you have a staffing need within your company? Have a question about how we work? Contact us today.
Tags: Hiring, recruiting, staffing
Posted in Clients, FORTIS | No Comments »
July 25th, 2011 by Kira
It’s inevitable. Every company has had to do it. It’s what you do afterwards that really matters to your team. It’s critical that you work to keep morale high after you’ve fired an employee – especially if the fire was unexpected by your team.
Here are 3 ways to restore morale after you’ve fired an employee.
- Be transparent. Be honest about the reason for firing, within guidelines of protecting the employee. Transparency is important in retaining trust and keeping morale when an employee is fired, let go, or laid off.
- Communicate. Whatever you do – don’t hide behind the fire. Meaning don’t act like it didn’t happen, and don’t downplay the seriousness of the event. Employees often fear for their own job security after someone is fired or let go.
- Educate. In order to do both #2 and #3 above you’ll need to educate your team on what’s expected of them. The more informed they are about your expectations – the more they can safely assess their own stability and performance.
After some time has passed be sure to utilize other morale building strategies such as team-builders, company events, and other rewards for employees who are doing a good job or going above and beyond their expected roles.
And always remember – reward positive behavior before reprimanding negative. It reinforces what you want to see happen within your team, over what you don’t want your employees doing.
Tags: Firing, Hiring, Leadership, morale, staffing, team
Posted in Clients, FORTIS | No Comments »
July 18th, 2011 by Kira
Stemming from last week’s blog on what’s a bad employee costing you, this week we will share how to hire the right person.
Hiring the right person isn’t a perfect science, however, there are many factors to consider when looking to fill a position.
Here are a few tips to consider ensuring you get the right person in your next opening.
- Make the job description clear and detailed. The more upfront you are with a candidate about their responsibilities the more you will be able to identify areas of concern with an unqualified candidate.
- Match person to position AND match person to culture.
- Schedule a series of interviews with different individuals and perspectives.
- Check references. Investigate for accuracy in past experience.
- Ask tough questions. But don’t interrogate.
- Do a team interview. Have your team help with the hiring process.
- Assess personality needs of your team/company. Assess candidate’s personality traits.
- Know a person’s long-term goals.
- Inquire about their passions.
- Find out their expectations.
- Share your expectations.
- Ask what hiccups might occur in this position.
- Study their body language. People will say what they want you to hear, their body will speak volumes.
Hiring the right person, while it may take more time on the front end, will save your company money in employee turnover, increase morale and productivity, and will keep your team happy!
And remember, you can always enlist the support of a staffing firm or recruiter to help make the right choice.
Tags: employees, Hiring, hiring process, how to hire, team
Posted in Clients, FORTIS | No Comments »
July 11th, 2011 by Kira
The saying, “hire slow and fire fast” stems from the affects a bad employee has on a company. Whether you are seeing the affects or not – a bad employee really is costing you more than you think.
And if you’ve ever been a co-worker or a colleague of someone who is long overdue to be released from their duties, then you know exactly what we are speaking of.
Let’s face it – firing is tough. It’s hard. It’s uncomfortable, and no one likes to do it. But it must be done. Not only for the sake of the company – but for the entire staff as well.
Here’s where your bad employee may be costing you.
- Productivity. It’s unlikely that a bad employee is productive. It’s more likely that they are not only unproductive, but also destructive. They typically have terrible customer service, miss deadlines, and dismiss company protocols and policies. Missed productivity costs companies countless dollars in revenue, even if your bad employee isn’t selling a thing.
- Virus/Germs. Just like a bad cold will spread through the office virtually overnight, a bad employees attitude will infect those around them. Even your greatest employees may get caught up in the “office virus.” These employees are often referred to as energy vampires, as they can literally suck the life out of your staff. While this may sound harsh, it’s true. Don’t let one bad employee take out your team.
- Morale. Just like cancer spreads through the body, or a bad strawberry will mold the rest of the container. Don’t let one bad employee steal your office morale. The bad employee is likely negative, under producing, and causing others to decrease their morale right along with them. Company culture is one tough cookie to replace – if you let this bad employee go too far – you’ll easily lose control.
Regardless of what affects you have seen from your bad employee – there’s only one thing you can do – fire fast. And next time, hire slow.
Tags: Bad employees, Firing, Hiring, staffing
Posted in Clients, FORTIS | No Comments »
July 12th, 2010 by Kira
It’s hard to believe that someone outside of your company could often find that perfect match for your new hire when they don’t work in the company, fully understand the culture, and have hands on experience within the workplace.
Well, that’s one side of the argument.
The flip side to this is an objective, third party, who can understand the cultural dynamics yet still be able to choose a candidate solely on skill, qualifications, and personality without letting any previous discord get in the way.
If you’ve questioned whether or not it’s possible for a third party to choose the best candidate consider these factors:
1. An outside company generally does the hard work for you – meaning they get to choose through the hundreds of candidates to find the few that are a good fit for your company.
2. You still get to ultimately choose who is RIGHT for you – but it’s easier on your end because all of the backend work has been done for you. (They’ve been prescreened, pre-interviewed, and are already noted as qualified candidates).
3. A lot of companies and hiring managers are more emotionally involved in the choice of the applicant, an objective third party is often able to see the potential pitfalls with a candidate and company match prior to the company being able to see them.
These are just a few of the differences that are seen when utilizing an outside 3rd party in hiring your next candidate. To find out if FORTIS is right for you, simply give us a call or email to find out how we can be of service to you.
Tags: Hiring, recruiter, staffing
Posted in Clients, FORTIS | No Comments »
February 8th, 2010 by Kira
Going through the interview process can become tedious if you have to sift through too many candidates, so why not try some fresh interview techniques to liven up the process and find out who is really underneath that 
resume.
- Talk about their passions. You can discover a lot about someone when you hear what they are passionate about. You’ll find out if they love to volunteer, read and learn about new things, or just enjoy soaking up the sun.
- Where do they like to vacation? Beach, mountains, or do they never even take vacations? Do you have an adventurous person in front of you or someone who values family time?
- Let the staff who will be working with the new person do the interviewing first. Avoid having to interview everyone and find who will best fit in with the team by allowing the team to do the interviewing.
- Take them out to lunch. Instead of staying in the office all day and plowing through interviews, meet them out to breakfast, lunch, or coffee. People tend to relax a bit more when out of the office.
- Never underestimate the power of humor. While it should be used only in appropriate settings, humor can help people to relax and show a bit more of their “humanness” during the interview process. It’s often unexpected during an interview, but can take away some of the routine feelings of the questions.
There are plenty of ways that you can add a personal touch to your interview style, most importantly the interviewer should be relaxed and welcoming and allow for the interviewee to open up and be themselves as well.
Can you share your own experience with being yourself in your interview?
Tags: applicant, applicants, application, applying for jobs, careers, employee, Hiring, Job Search
Posted in Candidates, FORTIS | No Comments »
December 16th, 2009 by Kira
Have you ever found yourself in a hiring-crunch? You’ve got meetings, appointments, paperwork, and more and between the two minutes you have to get your coffee and a snack you are reviewing resumes and chasing people down for interviews and you needed someone yesterday.
Do you know the feeling?
A hiring-crunch isn’t any fun and can often lead to making a bad hiring decision just so you can be done with it and get back to your regular to-do list.
This is where a reputable, dependable, and trustworthy staffing service can literally save your…. Well you can fill in that blank. When using an outside third party to find your next key staff member you not only save the time, the stress, and the hassle but you could literally save money too.
You’ve heard the statistics before; it takes more money to hire the wrong person than it does to find the right person and spend money doing it. When you hire right the first time you get someone who is qualified, fits into your company culture, and can easily provide the skills you need to get the job done. However, when you do it on your own and when you are in a crunch an emotional sense of urgency can cloud judgment – making it even more critical to have an outside objective third party help with the decision.
It’s best to think and plan ahead so you can avoid this “crunch” – even if you don’t need someone right now begin looking at various companies who specialize in your industry so if you ever do get in a crunch, all it will take is a simple phone call to smooth things out.
Tags: employee, Hiring, human resources, recruiting, staffing
Posted in Clients, FORTIS, Job Search | No Comments »
December 16th, 2009 by Kira
Typically companies ignore the hiring process until a position opens up. The problem with this is that it leaves you scrambling to find the right person in the shortest amount of time. Companies who place more emphasis on hiring and who are always looking for key talent have an advantage and can quickly fill a position with the best person in the shortest amount of time.
What can you do to change your hiring process and make it a priority?
S
teve Chandler and Sam Beckford of 9 Lies That Are Holding Your Business Back state that hiring should be a priority at all times, even when all of your positions are filled. They say this does something incredible to company morale, since you have people waiting for positions to open up; your employees will be more productive and will be happier because they are working at a great place where many people want to come and work. Whatever you do, don’t go around telling your employees how hard it is to find good people.
To keep your potential employee pipeline filled work with a staffing company, recruiter, or other professionals who come across great talent. Whenever they have someone, even if you are not hiring, meet with them anyways. You never know, you just might find someone so incredible that it’s worth opening up a new spot in your company.
Top talent exists out there; you just need to do your part in consistently attracting them into your business
Tags: application, business, Hiring, hiring process, human resources
Posted in Clients, FORTIS | No Comments »
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