I break away from my daydreaming (just before the “World’s Greatest Dad” parade commences) to hear my son reply: “Because you’re my favorite Daddy . . .  AND because you bought more chocolate milk.” Wow, I was way off! From a distance, my youngest son perks up. “Yeah Daddy, you’re my favoritest Daddy, too. Chocolate milk is yummy.”

Immediately my status as the family figurehead begins to soar, through word-of-mouth and community satisfaction, which got me thinking about how this might translate to the workplace. What reputation does your organization have? Why do people enjoy working there? Are you even sure they do? If you have ever had a position open longer than a month, this is something you need to evaluate.

In today’s saturated job market most assume it’s the job seeker who needs to be competitive. They do, but what about employers? Many job hunting prefer a “shotgun method” to applying. That is, they apply to hundreds of positions in hopes of a response; one shot, many different directions, pray for a hit.

If you fail to differentiate yourself from anybody else, the seeker assumes your company IS just like the rest — “just a job”. This makes it incredibly difficult to have anyone remember your company or take a sincere interest in learning more about you. I can already hear what you’re thinking: “Shouldn’t jobseekers ALREADY know about my company BEFORE they apply for my opening?” Possibly, but would you rather interview someone who’s hoping to land a job or someone who’s fighting to be a part of your team?  If your goal is to have qualified candidates seek you out and compete to work for you, you need to know what makes your opportunity worthwhile and promote it.

When I ask clients why their employees enjoy working for their company, I normally hear anything ranging from “great benefits” to “room for advancement”. While these are good qualities, are they really what your employees would say or what you ASSUME they would? How can you find out what’s important to them? The Web-based survey-building site http://www.zommerang.com/ offers free, anonymous surveys that you can customize and then instantly generate results sent directly to your email.

By using an anonymous survey, you can assure your employees they can answer the questions freely, without fear of retaliation. Be prepared, you might not like every response. However, knowledge is power. Once you can get to the root of your employees’ likes and dislikes, you’ll be able to mold the culture of your organization. Employee satisfaction will generate positive word-of-mouth and translate into your company being a brand worth fighting to be a part of.

Reputation goes a long way. When I interview potential candidates, I’m always interested in what companies they would prefer to work at and which ones they would rather not. It seems to be some of the same players on their “wish” lists and their “do-not-call-me-about” lists. While one is viewed as a company that “treats their employees as family and offers a fun work environment” another is a “churn and burn, micro-managing nightmare.” Both offer similar benefit packages, are market leaders, and have similar room for advancement. Why then, do they have completely different reputations? The first simply learned to get past what they THINK makes them great and instead focus on what their employees really want — more chocolate milk.

Brad Lewis, Celebrity Staff Kansas City Branch Manager

About Brad Lewis

Brad joined Celebrity in 2005 and currently serves as Branch Manager for Celebrity’s Kansas City branch office. Prior to joining Celebrity Staff, Brad was a business consultant in the communications industry for five years working specifically in the Kansas and Missouri districts. As branch manager, Brad concentrates on ensuring excellence in the overall operations of the Kansas City branch for both clients and employees. Outside the office, Brad enjoys spending quality time with his wife and their family. 

When interviewing candidates, you need to define how you expect a new hire to operate to fulfill the job requirements and achieve the best outcomes. In the book “First Break All the Rules”, authors Buckingham and Coffman state that the best managers know that people don’t change much so you should hire top people who want to do the work that you want done. In return, top people want job expectations clarified, appropriate materials and tools to be provided so that they can do the work they’re best at, and a manager who will support and develop them in their positions. Candidates take jobs due to the quality of the company, quality of the hiring manager, and the challenge and excitement of the position. 

As hiring managers, you need to make sure your job requirements accurately describe the real job you are interviewing for and when interviewing individuals you need to hire someone with the experience who can deliver results. How do you know the person you’re interviewing can deliver results? Past behavior predicts future behavior! Structuring your interview questions will identify their track record. This will help you gauge whether their accomplishments are key to your objectives and show how they handled situations that may mirror your environment, as well as provide you with examples of their accomplishments or challenges.

Using an objective decision in interviewing makes you review:

• Performance first
• Then character
• And then personal/cultural fit last

Reviewing a candidate’s performance will identify their ability to do the work. Traits to identify performance ability include team skills, drive, intelligence, leadership, initiative, and obtained results.  The character of an individual is their honesty, integrity and responsibility. One’s personality/cultural fit is their attitude, style, pace, first impression, appearance, social confidence and affability.

Here are five tips when hiring for a position in your organization:

1. Wait 30 minutes before making any decision about a candidate’s ability to do the work
2. Avoid “voodoo” hiring methods (mentioned in Patty’s last article)
3. Use a pre-planned structured interview
4. Market your company and opportunity before and after the interview
5. Listen two times more than you talk

The impact of effective hiring to your company provides short-term and long-term advantages. These advantages include reduced turnover, savings of time and money, a competitive advantage, flexible workforce, stronger staff, and a more effective team. By using the techniques that Patty and I have discussed during the past three months, it will help you make the right hiring decisions.

Want to join the next one-hour seminar available for continuing education credit for free? Become a Celebrity client!  Contact us today about your upcoming vacation coverage or strategic staffing needs and let us help you identify top talent to help your company get ready for the economic recovery.

Elizabeth Meyer Ambri, Celebrity Staff Lincoln Branch Manager

About Elizabeth Meyer Ambri
Elizabeth Meyer Ambri has worked for Celebrity Staff since 2003. She was hired as an account manager and since then she has been promoted several times to her current position of branch manager. Elizabeth is responsible for cultivating new business, servicing her customers and the overall operations of the Lincoln branch. Elizabeth has a master’s degree in human resources, a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and psychology and is working toward a CPC. Off the clock she enjoys spending time with her husband and their family. Elizabeth also enjoys hiking, biking and playing golf.

So, now that we are all aware we are “winging” a process that impacts the most important decision we make in our organization — WHO decisions — let’s review the most common interview pitfalls and mistakes made by hiring managers so we know what not to do!

First impressions. A study by the Wall Street Journal indicated that 70 percent of the hiring decision is based upon the following: emotions, biases, chemistry, personality, and stereotyping. All of which have nothing to do with whether someone can actually do the job for which they are being interviewed.

Do you find yourself “liking” someone in the first 90 seconds of the interview? Take a step back for a moment and remember that we don’t have to “like” someone in order for them to be a good fit for the job. I’m not saying likeability isn’t an important factor; however, if we “like” someone we have a tendency to not interview as in-depth as we should. Our questions are easier, we smile more and nod approvingly to the answers and may not ask the same questions. We like them!  Of course they can do the job! We ignore negatives and our investigative process stops.

On the other end of the spectrum, what happens if we don’t instantly like someone? Our gaze may be more intent, we don’t listen as closely, our smiles are less frequent, and the head nods are non-existent. We put more emphasis on the negatives and undersell our opportunities.

Some hiring managers like to hire teams that are like themselves. While you may be a great manager, remember we all have flaws. A team that brings a variety of strengths to the table can help off set individual weaknesses and can often be much more powerful than a team full of “quarterbacks”. After all, someone has to run the ball in and without the kicker you may not hit those “extra points” in business.  (I know it is baseball season, but I am a football fan at heart!)

Interviewing Styles. Are you the “Chatterbox” who talks AT the candidate versus asking questions OF the candidate to learn about them? An interview should be about questions, not about monologues. What about the “Art Critic” who can “read” people by getting to know them through a series of non-work related questions but end up learning nothing about their genuine experience. Do you take the “Sponge” approach and let everyone in the office ask the same questions in hopes you and your team “soak up” information about the candidate? 

Another favorite of mine is the “Fortune Teller”. The questions center around “what would you do…” which only set the stage for your candidate to tell you exactly what you want to hear. In this strategy, the truth is yet to be told, but there is no better predictor of behavior than past experiences. The past predicts the future. 

Does your company use Aptitude Tests in the hiring process? There are many wonderful tools out there, however remember they are TOOLS in the process, and should not be used as a determinant to proceed. Most firms that provide assessments will tell you that it is just one piece of the candidate puzzle, and all pieces together should help you formulate your decision.

So what do you do now that I have told you all you are doing is wrong? Prepare.  There are more than 1.8 MILLION Web sites on preparing for a job interview.  Your candidates are preparing, why aren’t you?

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you prepare for your next interview.

• What is our interview process, or do we even have one? Who is involved and have they been trained in interviewing? 
• Do we ask the same questions of each candidate?
• Do we know how to describe the position and why someone would want to work for us?

As Elizabeth Ambri, Manager of the Celebrity Staff Lincoln office and I reviewed these hiring pitfalls in our last seminar, many attendees chuckled and even volunteered which method they have used and where they have fallen prey to traps. If you are like many of our customers, you have made some of these mistakes at one time or another. I have. They are easy traps. It takes a concerted effort to refrain from making a decision about an interviewee in the first 90 seconds, it takes practice to develop an appropriate interview style, and it takes restraint to reserve making your decision about a candidate for at least 30 minutes after the interview concludes. 

So the next time you contact your Account Manager at Celebrity Staff for assistance in finding the right candidate, invest in some preparation so you make a good evaluation of the candidates we present. What is the pay off to preparation? Reduced turn over, increased productivity, and saved time and money by hiring the right person the first time build a more effective team, and the list goes on and on. One more pay off? The people you hire are a reflection of you!

Want to join the next one-hour seminar available for continuing education credit for free? Become a Celebrity client!  Contact us today about your upcoming vacation coverage or strategic staffing needs and let us help you identify talent to help your company get ready for the economic recovery.

Patty North, CPC, Celebrity Staff Regional Manager

About Patty North, Celebrity Staff Regional Manager
As the regional manager of Celebrity Staff, a leading staffing and recruitment firm, Patty North has assisted organizations across a four-state region with the development and implementation of best practice strategies in the areas of talent acquisition and talent management. Her collective insight and expertise on workforce planning, garnered from her 15 years in the staffing industry, has enabled clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations to improve performance and gain a competitive advantage in their respective markets. Celebrity Staff is based in Omaha, Nebraska and serves the Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri region.

Last month, Elizabeth Ambri, Branch Manager of Celebrity Lincoln and I conducted a workshop exclusively for Celebrity Staff clients on why managers should step back and evaluate their interview skills. We explained how doing so could benefit their company and offered specific tips on what they should do differently when interviewing.

I was amazed at the number of responses from owners and hiring managers prior to the workshop who felt they did not need this type of information. One business executive said, “I have been hiring for years and I know what I am doing.” 

That may be true, but even the best interviewers can learn a new tip here and there.  As a manager of a staffing firm, I am privy to “insider information” from job seekers about the interviews our clients conduct and let me just say . . . most of you could use some brush up on your interviewing techniques.

Candidates share details about what transpires at the interview and often ask us for our opinion because some candidates leave the interview not knowing how to feel about the process. While there are some interviewers who are prepared with meaningful questions that help identify if someone will “fit” into their company, most interviewers simply wing it. Literally.

Most of you think that candidates don’t realize that you are winging it, but you are wrong. Candidates can tell when you aren’t prepared to meet with them. They have to wait past their interview time, you don’t have a copy of their resume, you aren’t able to articulate details about the position, or you ask two or three questions and after 10 minutes you tell them you have no further questions. Some of you don’t explain anything about why someone would want to work for you other than, “it’s a job” and this is not a good enough reason.

One candidate shared that the hiring manager they met with told them they could not tell them anything about the company or department because no one told him. He was simply sent in to meet the candidate and had no idea why. Meeting a potential employee like this leaves a bad impression of not only you, but of your company.

In Hire with Your Head by Lou Adler, a University of Michigan State study indicated that the typical interview is only 57 percent accurate. That means that only one of every two interviews actually tells you if the candidate is a fit for your job or not.

What if all of the business processes in your company were only 57 percent accurate? Would you continue to grow or would your customers return if only 57 percent of your services were worthwhile? Of course not!  Any other business process that is this unreliable would have been scrapped years ago. So why aren’t you taking a step back to plan and prepare for your interviews?

Estimates indicate that the average hiring mistakes cost between two and three times the annual compensation of the position. Goeff Smart and Randy Street, authors of the book Who estimate that for management and upper-level positions the average hiring mistake can costs fifteen times an employee base salary in hard costs and productivity loss. 

Now just think, if your hiring is only 57 percent accurate, and the average hiring mistake costs even just two times the compensation, the fastest way to increase productivity and minimize expense is to hire the right people, the first time. To do so, that means you need to step back and evaluate not only your staff, but your interview skills and hiring process. 

Jim Collins said it best in his book Good to Great: “The most important decisions that business people make are not what decisions, but who decisions,” and I couldn’t agree more.

I’ll review the most common interview pitfalls and mistakes made by hiring managers in the next Celebrity Staff blog as part two in my series on “How Smart Hiring Strategies Make a Big Impact on Results.”

Want to join the next one hour seminar available for continuing education credit for free?  Become a Celebrity client!  Contact us today about your upcoming vacation coverage or strategic staffing needs and let us help you identify talent to help your company get ready for the economic recovery.

Patty North, CPC, Celebrity Staff Regional Manager

About Patty North
As the regional manager of Celebrity Staff, a leading staffing and recruitment firm, Patty North has assisted organizations across a four-state region with the development and implementation of best practice strategies in the areas of talent acquisition and talent management. Her collective insight and expertise on workforce planning, garnered from her 15 years in the staffing industry, has enabled clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations to improve performance and gain a competitive advantage in their respective markets. Celebrity Staff is based in Omaha, Nebraska with offices located in Lincoln, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri.

Sarah Bonow, Celebrity Staff Operations Manager, after completing her first half marathon in Lincoln, Neb. on May 2.

For this employee, remaining active is a way of life. Sarah Bonow, who is the Operations Manager of Celebrity Staff, likes to stay active by participating in group fitness classes at her gym, walking with friends, and also running. Like many people, Sarah has a hectic schedule so it can be difficult to find time to fit in her fitness.

“I have to just make time. Some weeks are easier than others, and I have to turn down a lot of happy hours, but I feel so much better for it,” Sarah says.  She also recommends finding the time of day that best works for you. For her, evenings work best and give her a chance to clear her mind and de-stress from the day.

Everyone has his or her own personal reason for staying active. For Sarah, it’s the feeling she gets when finished. “I believe I’m a lot easier to be around when I have worked out. It’s a great stress reliever, increases your endorphins, and just makes me more energetic.”

On May 2 Sarah completed her very first half marathon. In the past she’s participated in several organized events, such as the Corporate Cup, Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer walk/run, and the Memorial Day Run at Boys Town; however this will be the longest organized run she’s completed. Running the 13.2 miles is a huge accomplishment because of all the sweat and dedication that went into training for it.

“Training is tough, like everything else, you are on a limited and busy schedule, the weather does not always cooperate and life gets in the way sometimes. Luckily, I have several friends also participating in the run and they keep me motivated to keep working,” Sarah said.

In fact, group fitness is one of Sarah’s favorite ways to stay in shape. She participates in free fitness classes through her gym membership at Lifetime Fitness. Some of her favorite classes include Total Conditioning, which is an interval class, Kickboxing and Dance Jam. She says the classes challenge her to work harder. With an instructor she feels she is able to not stress about what to do next, rather she just listens and reacts.

When asked about her summer plans for staying active, Sarah is most excited about yard work and mowing her lawn. “I love mowing because you get to be outside, getting something done and getting a little work out in at the same time!”

Karen Nalley is the Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Art Jetter Company, an insurance brokerage firm in Omaha, Nebraska. Karen has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance brokerage industry specializing in health, dental, disability, life, and long-term care insurance solutions. Art Jetter Company has been in business for more than 30 years and currently has an office staff of about 30 employees. Karen and I have worked together for the past ten years, and I sat down with her to ask her questions about her experience and motivation to continue to turn to Celebrity Staff for her temporary, Match Hire®, and direct-hire staffing needs. 

Q:  When you find out you have an opening, you typically call me the same day. You haven’t run an ad for an employee in ten years, and you hire a new employee about once a year. Why don’t you run an ad for the position and see if you can find a candidate on your own before you engage a recruiting firm? 

A:  Unless you interview on a daily basis, you don’t develop the expertise to do it well enough. The misperception is that anyone can run an ad and interview the interested candidates. People think that because you are good at “reading” people you are a natural at interviewing, but interviewing is an acquired skill with a very large margin of error. 

The other misperception is that all it costs you to do the hiring on your own is the cost of the ad. But as a manager/entrepreneur/executive, your value to your firm is X amount of dollars per hour, and if your job is not specific to knowing how to navigate the recruiting and interviewing process, and how to avoid common hiring pitfalls, it will take you twice as long or longer to do what a professional recruiter is trained to do. Then you add up the rest of the costs for the other people in your firm involved in the process, and all of these steps are going to take your staff twice as long as someone who knows exactly how the process should work, how to interview, reference, what to look for, what to screen out, what to screen in, etc. 

It really does become an expensive in-house endeavor if you are a small business. For me, if I can make one extra sale, it covers the cost of the placement, so why wouldn’t I just make the sale and leave the recruiting to the recruiter? Then I don’t have to worry about creating an ad, screening a hundred applicants, taking phone calls about the position, interviewing, referencing, it’s all done. On my own the process could take weeks or months. The last time I had a full time position open, I called Anne and told her about it, and within 24 hours she had a qualified and interested candidate with industry experience interview with me the next day, and we hired that person.

Q:  A common barrier to companies considering using a recruiting firm is that the fees are too high. You’ve been using our recruiting firm for everything from temporary placements, to Match Hire®, to Direct Hire placements, and you and I calculated that I’ve placed 30 percent of your existing staff during the past 10 years. How do you continue to justify the fees?

A.  I think that people who say the fees are too high are looking at it all wrong. I probably use Celebrity at least once a year for a full-time placement, so I pay a fee about once a year. But, the way you grow as a small business and as an entrepreneur is by hiring really good, talented people specific to your industry. The way my relationship works with Anne is that she is keeping her eye out for those people all year round. Sometimes, she has called with someone that had a perfect background for my business, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to hire them because of what it would mean to the future success of my business, so I created a position, hired her recruit, and paid the fee! 

You can’t just look at the fee as the cost of that one employee. Anne is actually the cheapest employee I have! She works for me all year round and I only have to pay her once a year. In order to get that kind of value out of the relationship you have to work with someone who has put in the time to get to know your business, and knows when to call you with the type of talent that can really help your business grow. The smaller your firm is the more hats you and your people probably wear, the more valuable your time and resources are, the more you really do need a dedicated, contingent recruiter. 

Q:  What advice do you have for a hiring official who has never used a recruiting firm in order to get the best result?

A:  Find a recruiting firm and individual recruiter that you trust, and then commit to them for all of your hiring needs. Quit shopping other firms to find the best rate; quit taking calls from other recruiters.  Find a recruiter who has a genuine interest in you and your business, one that understands what drives your business, what the culture is like, what kind of personalities work and don’t work, what skill sets are critical, what the training is like, etc., and then spend the time working with your recruiter to get them the answers they need to partner with you. That takes time and trust.

Ideally, your recruiter will be an extension of you; they are representing you and your firm in the marketplace searching for talent. They need to know everything you know. I know the temptation is to call a recruiter with a job description and think that they can get the right match from that, but there’s a lot more to it than just the job description. The recruiter is going to be reaching out to a trusted network of referrals on your behalf so you have to be willing to spend the time up front with your recruiter – the communication has to be a two way street.

So first, you have to have a recruiter who wants that type of relationship and isn’t just interested in placing a candidate just to make a commission and then disappears on you. Second, you have to be willing to put in some time to help them get up to speed. Find a recruiter who has been around for a while. You are basically paying for, or investing in, that recruiter’s network and expertise. That’s what the fee is for. So at Celebrity, I work with Anne Romero because she has ten years with Celebrity, has spent her career building her network, and knows the people to tap when I call with a need, and can turn around within 24 hours and deliver because she’s taken the time to understand me, my business, and the jobs I have here. That’s a recruiter’s best asset – the combination of knowing who to call, and then knowing how to ask the right questions to get the right fit – and that’s what you want to look for in your recruiter. 

Q: It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between recruiting firms. In your opinion, what sets one firm apart from another?

A: The biggest difference is how flexible that recruiting firm will be with you. You want to find a company that will tailor its recruiting process to your needs, and fit into your hiring process, not the other way around. I like working with Celebrity because they found out how I hire, what assessments I administer, what questions I want the answers to, and then they do all the work to screen the candidates using my internal process. They collected the materials from me, have them on file, and then they administer it to their prospective candidates for my jobs, and ask the candidates my questions. I don’t even see the candidates who didn’t meet the criteria I need. Celebrity administers the process, and just doesn’t send me the candidates who don’t pass. It saves me time on all fronts, and I know that the candidates I am getting already meet my internal hiring criteria.

Q: As someone who has used both the Match Hire® and Direct-Hire options, how do you choose between hiring a candidate using the Match Hire® or Direct Hire process?

A:  I think you have to make that decision on a case-by-case basis with the help of your recruiter.  And it again goes back to working with a recruiter who really does have your best interests in mind so that they can help you decide which option is going to be the best option. It really does depend on the candidate’s situation, the job, the need, the level of position, and other factors. You have to work with a recruiter who can help lay out the pros and cons of both options, and then choose the best option for that particular job and candidate. There really isn’t a cut and dry answer.  

Q:  You’ve also used our temporary services when you’ve had a short-term hiring need. Some companies that are highly specialized feel that they can’t use temporary employees because of the time it takes to train. Your company is an insurance brokerage firm, and the work is highly specialized.  How do you effectively use temporary employees when your business is so specialized?

A:  When you have the right recruiter who has taken the time to understand the nature of your business and the work, and you’ve taken the time to help them understand what skills and experience are critical, it doesn’t matter how specialized the business is, they will be able to identify if they have the right candidate with that skill set or background within a very short amount of time. 

Q:  One of the biggest factors in the success of a partnership with a recruiting firm is open, honest, and timely feedback and communication between the recruiter and the hiring official.  It’s not always easy to deliver news that is less than positive. What is your advice to others on communicating effectively with your recruiter?

 A:  The communication is a two way street and you have to find a way to deliver detailed information about what’s working and what’s not working. If a candidate isn’t a fit, it isn’t very helpful to say, “They just weren’t what I was looking for”. You have to be able to articulate the reasons why, so that the recruiter can understand how to go back and adjust their recruiting strategy or screening strategy accordingly.  A “gut feeling” isn’t enough; you have to find a way to put into words why you have a gut feeling that it’s not the right fit. Otherwise, the recruiter won’t know what to change to get you the right candidate.

Anne Romero, Celebrity Staff Account Manager

About Anne Romero, CIR, SPHR
In her 10th year at Celebrity Staff, Anne Romero is a seasoned account manager and recruiter. In that time, she has successfully placed 3000 candidates in temporary and full-time administrative, management, and corporate support positions with both small and large firms in the Omaha metro.

Anne earned a top performer award in 2003 and the prestigious President’s Club Award in 2008. She also secured her Certified Internet Recruiter (CIR) designation in 2008 and stays on top of the latest advances in internet and social media recruiting. In addition, Anne earned the SPHR distinction in January 2010 and looks forward to putting her human resources knowledge to work for her clients!

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Anne came to Omaha to attend Creighton University, where she earned her BA in English Literature. Anne serves as the Vice President of Membership for All About Omaha and is President of the William A. Paxton Business Tips Society. When she’s not keeping her eye on the talent market, Anne spends time with her husband, Gabe, and their two year old son, and reads as much as she can!

On the news today we are hearing about the loss of jobs in the economy and stories from the numerous people currently laid off about their struggles to continue to pay their bills while they search for a new career.  What we are NOT hearing about is YOU, the business owner, manager or HR professional giving your all to protect every cent and asset of your firm. Unemployment benefits can cost your firm thousands of dollars; having said that, the benefits are there for a reason. Many people out of work do deserve unemployment benefits. If you, as a company owe them, pay them. But, if you can avoid unnecessary unemployment costs, avoid them!

In my last article I touched briefly on how to protect your firm’s assets from unemployment liability using vigilant documentation and arming your firm with a solid employee guide. Today we will dive deeper into the subject of disciplinary action. Specifically how you can protect your firm when disciplinary situations escalate to termination. It is important for all employers to know that the way you manage and document disciplinary issues can directly correlates to how many unemployment claims your firm is found accountable for.

Misconduct vs. Gross Misconduct

It is an unfortunate part of life in the business world that people make mistakes, both knowingly and unknowingly. With that, there are different levels of misconduct. You will have employees who make bad impressions, do the wrong thing, or those who just don’t seem to “get it”. 

“Misconduct” in simple terms is any deliberate act or omission that is detrimental to the employer’s interests. For unemployment purposes, remember that misconduct is not mere inefficiency, inadequate performance based on inability, ordinary negligence in isolated instances, or good faith errors in judgment. In many cases, regular misconduct would require “progressive disciplinary action” to release your firm from liability.  Compared to “gross misconduct”, misconduct is the “lesser” form of wrongdoing. We will discuss this in more detail below.

“Gross misconduct” is considered a more serious offense. Most definitely any illegal action by the employee would be considered gross misconduct, i.e. stealing, violence, sexual misconduct, etc.  Yet, the action need not be illegal to be considered gross misconduct.  Per onque.com, a definition widely used by the court system for gross misconduct is “intentional, wanton, willful, deliberate, reckless, or in deliberate indifference to an employer’s interest.” For unemployment purposes, assuming that you can prove the actions and show the severity, your firm would not be held responsible. Many HR professionals would suggest that if you have an employee who you believe is guilty of gross misconduct you immediately suspend the employee to give yourself time to investigate the situation further, prior to termination.

Unfortunately, as with all things, there is a level of subjectivity involved in determining misconduct versus gross misconduct. The courts ultimately will want to see a good faith effort on the part of your firm and the aforementioned “progressive disciplinary action”.

Progressive disciplinary action involves coaching and counseling your employee when issues of bad behavior arise. Firms should have a progressive action policy in place and use the same process for all employees.

For the first offense there is normally a verbal warning, second offense a written warning, and the proverbial strike three results in termination. With each action you take you need documentation that the employee is aware of the situation and aware of what future occurrences mean for their future with your company. Even a verbal warning should be documented and have a signature of recognition from the employee.

All employees should be aware of the progressive policy and know how failure to comply with company policies will affect their employment. An employer must understand that new progressive action is necessary for each disciplinary situation. For example, if you verbally warn an employee of an attendance issue and then catch them on the Internet against policy, you will need to conduct a separate verbal warning for the Internet issue.

Arming yourself with documents affirming your progressive actions will make your interactions with the unemployment courts smooth and breezy.  Going to court with only your testimony of “they did it all the time” will get you nowhere.  Let’s discuss a few examples:

• Example 1 – Employee falsifies their timecard
  You grow suspicious of your employee’s overtime hours racking up week after week.  Deciding to investigate, you review your surveillance videos to discover that for weeks the employee has been taking long lunches and sneaking out prior to the close of business.  In this instance, the employee was knowingly leaving work at one time and documenting a different time, therefore being paid for time that they knowingly did not work, and thus stealing from your firm. In this situation, you would immediately release your employee, and based on the offense, possibly press charges. Gross misconduct of this kind would release you from liability. 
• Example 2 – Internet Usage
  Your firm has a policy of no Internet usage during working hours. You have an employee who makes an exception to jump online and pay a bill, check out their Facebook page or email a buddy, once.  A one-time offense of this kind, though deliberate and knowing, is not extremely detrimental to your firm, nor would it be considered a “serious” offense in the eyes of the court.  If you terminate your employee after a one-time offense, your firm would likely be held liable for the unemployment benefits of this employee.

In closing, please do not misunderstand me, there are definitely situations where retaining an employee to avoid unemployment liability can be much more detrimental to your firm.  Something to remember is that a good reason for terminating someone is not always a good enough reason for the courts to deny unemployment benefits. Employees are there to make your life easier, and to facilitate the growth and success of your business. If after a fair evaluation, you look at an employee and can say that they make your job harder, it is time to cut ties. 

One sure fire way to try out an employee with out any liability is to turn to a recruiting firm.  The next time you are ready to upgrade your staff, consider using this resource. Recruiting firms are a resource to meet candidates with minimal risk. We all know that “try before you buy” can instill confidence in a product, and the same can be done for an employee!  Celebrity Staff offers a Match-Hire program for companies to hire new staff on a trial basis.  Celebrity Staff will manage the interview and placement process, as well as payroll and performance issues, including attendance and attitude. After a predetermined time frame has expired, you can hire the candidate onto your payroll at no additional fee. You will enjoy all the perks with out the risk!

Sarah Bonow, Celebrity Staff Operations Manager

About Sarah Bonow, Celebrity Staff Operations Manager
Sarah B. has worked for Celebrity Staff since 2001. She was hired as an Administrative Assistant, and since then, she has been promoted several times to her current position of Operations Manager. Sarah assists in the management of both clients and prospective candidates while overseeing the day-to-day happenings at Celebrity. Sarah has a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and is working toward a CPC. Off the clock she likes to run and is learning how to play golf.

Mission Man, C&A's Mission Statement super hero/mascot

C&A Industries brought its mission statement to life late last year when we introduced Mission Man, C&A’s very own super hero and mascot. Mission Man is on a mission to recognize employees who go above and beyond incorporating C&A’s mission statement values into their daily endeavors.

Mission Man made his second visit to the Celebrity Staff KC office in less than a year!  This time, he was honoring Brad L. and Grete R. for their excellent work with a vendor management company. Thanks to the efforts of Brad and Grete and the entire KC team, Celebrity ranked #2 of 18 vendors on a “vendor scorecard” with an impressive score of 92.66!  Way to go, Celebrity KC!

Here’s what Celebrity Staff Regional Manager Patty North had to say about the honor.

“Brad L and Grete R with Celebrity KC have a 10-year contract relationship with a Vendor Management Company to provide staffing services to a Kansas City utilities company.  Recently, the company completed a “vendor scorecard”, ranking each of their vendors. Out of 18 vendors, Celebrity Staff ranked #2! Out of a total score of 100, they scored an amazing 92.66, a whopping 40 points above average!  When Celebrity followed up to see how they could improve, the client couldn’t think of one thing that could or should be improved upon and appreciated all of their help!  WAY TO GO, CELEBRITY KC!” 

 Key Mission Statement Values Represented:  We will honor our commitments by delivering the candidate who best matches the client’s needs, doing what we say, doing it right, and doing it on time.

Staggering unemployment rates have made for an employer’s market.  As a staffing firm representative, a common comment that I hear is, “Candidates are in abundance, why should I pay for your service fees?”  To some, today’s market seems to negate the consideration to use a staffing partner.  Candidate abundance is a reality, a shockingly overwhelming reality to hiring officials. Companies are inundated with a vast number of responses to job postings so that choice to screen and interview becomes time intensive. Choosing to partner with a staffing recruiter can prove to be a time saver. The dollar signs associated with paying a staffing firm is a reasonable business expense that more businesses are incorporating to annual budgets and strategic planning. 

As one local engineering client commented to me, “I have received more than 150 resumes for an administrative assistant role, so the need to bring on a temporary individual is necessary while we complete our full search process.” I had the right candidate, with impeccable skills, glowing references, and ironically who offered previous administrative experience in the field to fit the position. After a thorough search conducted on their own, with many advertising dollars spent, it was determined that Rachel, my temporary candidate currently working in the position, was the best match for the job.

Using recruiting resources should be a strategic consideration to your business plan. Employment costs such as insurance, healthcare, taxes, and benefits are soaring at the same time companies are under significant pressure to do more with less. The answer to managing these costs, maintaining productivity with fewer employees, and preparing for economic recovery is part of the strategic staffing agenda businesses face. 

A business that lacks an HR department or that has not used a staffing recruiter should consider the positives and values to a staffing partnership. The marketplace is much different now from recent years. The sheer number of people looking for employment at this time is a valid reason to invest in a staffing vendor relationship. These relationships will provide assistance in the search process for the best fit in addition to helping enhance bottom line profits so business plans get executed while keeping costly hiring mistakes to a minimum. 

Why companies use professional recruiters
Whether your company is looking for a candidate with a specialized need or skill set, or has a challenging position to fill that requires a great investment of your time, partnering with a professional can help you fill your positions faster.

Recruiters provide several value factors and eliminate time consuming tasks of the initial recruitment process. Staffing firms have the ability to advertise on specific and usually expensive job boards, eliminating your advertising costs, in addition to posting positions to its networking organizations and membership Web sites. Once a candidate is selected, a staffing firm will save you time by reviewing resumes, qualifying candidates, checking references, and screening backgrounds.

Respected, reputable, and well-networked recruiters know who to connect with to identify potential prospects. They have built rapport and have relationships with individuals from various industries to candidates’ motives and are able to determine what it will take for a candidate to consider a job or career change, thus eliminating candidates who are unsuitable and do not fit the profile.

Candidate connections and sources may be currently employed and wish to maintain confidentiality by working through a recruiter. Other candidate’s may not be actively searching for a job or responding to job postings. A professional recruiter will find these passive job seekers and work to recruit them for a new opportunity.

Businesses that plan to terminate existing employees often turn to recruiters to confidentiality start the search process and identify and bring in candidates so business operations remain uninterrupted. Recruiters will maintain your company’s confidentially and protect your company’s interest.

Companies that do not have HR departments or the resources on hand to conduct candidate searches should hire recruiters and staffing vendors. Recruiters provide expertise and guidance as a professional consultant to guide the interview process so that businesses devote time to interviewing only the most qualified candidates.

Recruiters handle the salary and benefit topic upfront with all parties involved. The negotiation process is set up to move the offer process forward eliminating chances of an offer decline. All parties involved with the hiring and interview process understand the dynamics of the position’s role, expectations, basic salary, and benefits information.

Using a professional recruiter is a big cost savings. If a hired candidate resigns within 30 – 90 days depending on the level of the position, a replacement guarantee is provided. The recruiter will continue to recruit and refer suitable candidates at no additional charge. 

Recruiters provide open and honest feedback and communication to hiring officials offering industry trends, current market demands, competition, and industry information.

An effective professional recruiter will work hard to gain your trust, establish a long-term relationship, and take the time to fully understand the company culture, organizational dynamics, and scope of the position to bring the right individual in ensuring a return on your investment and a long-term commitment by the new hire.

If you are involved in the hiring decisions of your organization either as a business owner, department manager, or human resources professional, working with a staffing recruiter can be a vital component to your organization’s strategic business plan and can aid in the hiring process by scouting talent and providing the best candidate match. 

A quality staffing vendor will provide trust, experience, and value. The recruiter’s ability and unique access to a vast range of candidates is one of the most essential benefits offered to business clients. By engaging in a staffing partnership, you can quickly fill a need with the assistance of using a staffing recruiter to search for the right candidate with the necessary skill set and experience. Those hard to find candidates can be used for specialized projects, seasonal needs, or hired on for a regular full-time position. This flexibility is another reason why smart businesses achieve a competitive advantage, keeping payroll and benefits expenses to a minimum.

Angie Smathers, Celebrity Staff Senior Account Manager

About Angie Smathers
Angie Smathers joined the team at Celebrity Staff in 1998 and has been in her current role as a senior account manager for the Lincoln branch since 2005. Angie has had great success cultivating and maintaing lasting business relationships with clients across all industries. She has worked with hundreds of businesses and made successful candidate placements that have resulted in long-term commitments and career paths. She enjoys identifying top talent and assisting clients to help make smart hiring decisions that meet business goals. In 2007 and 2008 Angie earned President Club, Celebrity Staff’s top sales award. She is a member of Lincoln Human Resource Management Association (LHRMA) and has served on the planning committee for the Nebraska Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) conference. She is currently studying to complete her Certified Staffing Professional designation and in her free time she enjoys time with her family and friends, traveling, exercising and looks forward to taking up a new hobby — golf!

Ellen Jensen celebrates her 20 year anniversary with Celebrity Staff this year!

Loyalty and tenure: two words that rarely describe employees in today’s businesses. These qualities were once commonplace in a time when pensions were common and identities were associated with a company, not a career choice. Ten, fifteen, twenty years were expected and anything less was frowned upon. 

Today, however; ten, fifteen, or twenty years is a surprise, especially on the heels of the GenX-ers who think nothing of switching jobs every six months for a “career move,” regardless of how it may look on their resume.

When we see double-digit tenure coupled with the desire to grow and stay “engaged” and contributing to business success, it should be celebrated! Celebrity Staff/C&A Industries celebrates an employee who does just that.

When the recession began, Ellen took initiative to ask what she could do to help the company and what she could change so that she continued to impact Celebrity’s business success. Her willingness to take on new challenges and commitment to excellence makes Ellen one of Celebrity Staff’s greatest assets and a model for all other employees. It has been my pleasure to work with Ellen for the last 15 years; I can’t imagine our company without her.

Co-worker comments:
“Ellen is the go-to person for our office when it comes to administrative questions and needs. She has been happy to assist me training our new hires during the past four years at the front desk and she has provided great feedback. Each time I come into the Omaha office, Ellen always greets me with a smile and asks how I am doing. She is probably one of the most sincere people I have had the pleasure of working with in my six plus years with C & A.”  Elizabeth A., Branch Manager, Celebrity Lincoln.

“Working with Ellen has been a delight! She provides a great attitude and is always bending over backwards in order to help those around her. As a new employee she was a great first person to meet at Celebrity Staff. From day one, Ellen made me feel welcome and part of the team and was more than willing to assist me with anything and everything. So many candidates we work with on a daily basis describe their ideal or desired new employment opportunity. Often candidates make mention of a productive, positive, and pleasant working environment. Ellen Jensen aids in providing all of these things and so much more. Cheers for Ellen!”  Molly H., Recruiter, Celebrity Lincoln

“Ellen is always willing to help out no matter what you ask of her. She has the huge task of keeping all of our schedules in line, knowing where everyone is at all times, and she does this seamlessly. If you ask Ellen to help with something, she has the “no problem” attitude – no matter if she is working on other projects, she is always willing to help.”  Leslie S., Sr. Account Manager, Celebrity Omaha

“Working with Ellen has been an adventure! She is forever willing and has accepted the challenge of many new responsibilities as needs arise. Ellen makes work fun and keeps all of us on our toes. Celebrity would not be the same without Ellen manning our front desk and keeping smiles on our faces!” Sarah B., Operations Manager, Celebrity Omaha

There are great lessons to take from Ellen. She showcases a continued desire to grow and help and always asks for feedback so she knows the part she plays in the big picture of the company mission. Synonyms for loyalty: allegiance, devotion, constancy, fidelity. All words that I would use to describe Ellen. Thank you, Ellen for all you have done for us at Celebrity Staff and C&A Industries.

Patty North, CPC, Celebrity Staff Regional Manager

About Patty North
As the regional manager of Celebrity Staff, a leading staffing and recruitment firm, Patty North has assisted organizations across a four-state region with the development and implementation of best practice strategies in the areas of talent acquisition and talent management. Her collective insight and expertise on workforce planning, garnered from her 15 years in the staffing industry, has enabled clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations to improve performance and gain a competitive advantage in their respective markets. Celebrity Staff is based in Omaha, Nebraska with offices located in Lincoln, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri.