Category Archives: Business

Bringing someone new into your organization can be not only a time-consuming task, but a stressful and scary one too. What if they aren’t good at their job? What if they don’t get along with the other employees? What if our customers don’t like them? While I wouldn’t call Godshall a fortune teller, being in the business for 50 years has provided us the experience needed to learn the necessary steps your company should take to make the best hire possible.

Define the Role Before Starting the Search – If you don’t know what you need, how are you going to know what to look for? Defining the role will help you define the duties, responsibilities, and skills needed for the job. Are there any technical or software skills needed? What about soft skills? Will they be on the phone a lot and need a professional and personable attitude?

Utilize Behavioral Interviewing Techniques – Behavioral questions are the best in helping you determine real-life work experiences. Have the candidate describe an actual work situation. Have them describe the situation, their role, and the result. How did they feel about their supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates during the process? Were they a hindrance or a help in solving the problem?

Understanding Interviewing Is Only One Step of The Screening Process – Many companies these days, including Godshall, are using skills tests, profile assessments, and other resources in their hiring process. These tests allow the hiring managers to receive insight into a candidate’s natural strengths, and help your business leaders make more informed and objective decisions on hiring.

The Past Typically Predicts the Future – It sounds cliché, but reference checks are so important in the hiring process. Understanding how your potential candidate has performed in the past, where he/she was most successful, how they got along with others, and their reasons for leaving are crucial! If your candidate left for more money every year, chances are they’re going to leave you in a year for more money. Don’t be afraid to ask the references real life questions ie- How do they deal with conflict? How do they make tough decisions? What type of work environment do they need to succeed? What advice would you give their new supervisor? Ask whatever you need to know (and legally allowed 😊) to help make the best hire.

Consider Checking Out Social Media Profiles – Social media provides a different perspective on the candidate and helps give you an idea of their character and lifestyle. Many profiles are private these days, but it doesn’t hurt to double check. LinkedIn is a great account to check out for several reasons. It allows you to make sure their history on their profile matches up with their resume. It can also give you an idea of their network especially if they are going into a high sales driven/networking role. As a hiring manager, you must be careful from what you learn on social media and what could steer your hiring decision from that. We hope all of you are non-discriminatory give consideration for employment to qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, status as a parent or protected veteran status.

Have Current Employees Meet with Potential Candidates – You as the hiring manager can only provide one perspective of the company. It can be very beneficial for potential hires to meet their future coworkers. It gives you a better idea of if they will be a good cultural fit. It will also allow the candidates to ask some questions they may not have felt comfortable asking you (Is there a good work/life balance, is there flexibility when it comes to parents with young kids, is it a very sales driven/numbers oriented management style, how are the managers there, etc.)

Share benefits and any company incentives before the offer is made. Discuss their expectations of benefits early in the process (what it will cost them? what is offered?) and paid time off (what have they had at previous companies and are they willing to live with what you are offering?) Too often this is not discussed until after the job has been accepted.

Communication is Vital! If you only read one sentence in this article, let it be this one. Stay in constant communication with your potential hires! Communicating with them helps keep them engaged and interested in the role. I feel like a broken record saying this, but I’ll say it again in hopes it sticks. The job market is hot right now for candidates and they are seeing multiple job offers left and right. Keeping them interested is probably going to be one of the hardest steps, but necessary if you don’t want to lose them. Consistently communicating with them will help establish a relationship even before they are hired. It will also help them feel they are heard for what they are looking for and show you’re excited for the possibility of working with them!

Now get to hiring!

P.S. If you need assistance in your employment needs, Godshall is one call away! 😉

Written by: Shawn Kinard, Recruiting and Branding Specialist with Godshall Professional Recruiting and Staffing

You’ve put an incredible amount of effort into hiring the right match for your position, your offer was accepted, and now you’re anxious to see the results. Your work is done, right? Not quite! A few easy tips for helping your newly hired employee get off to the right start:

Give them a warm welcome! Whether or not you provide a formal orientation, introduce them around so that coworkers will know who they are and where they are working. Allow some time for interaction via the water cooler or a personal introduction. Give them information about customs that may be unique to your firm. Have someone take them out to lunch the first day if possible.

2. Make sure the newly hired employee feels you are ready for them. Are business cards in? Is their computer and desk set up? Do they have office supplies? Little things matter.

3. Be wise in choosing the trainer. Like most small businesses, if you don’t have a formal training program, be cautious not to assume that the employee with the most expertise is also the best trainer. Often, you will want to involve multiple people in the process so that the newly hired employee understands how their role fits into the organization. For example, sales professionals should spend time with customer service or technical support professionals so that they understand the customer. Also, be aware that people have different learning styles—some need to “do” rather than just hear or see.

4. Set clear expectations. This is your chance to start with a clean slate. Let the new hire know what is expected of them and how they will be measured. Let them know how often you will meet with them and how to have questions answered.

5. Put their success in the hands of the entire team. When the team feels it is in their best interest for a newly hired employee to be successful, they are more likely to support them and give the newly hired employee the best possible chance for success.

Do you have any other tips for starting new employees?

Written by: Julie Godshall Brown

Julie is the president and owner of Godshall Professional Recruiting and Staffing. She has been with her family business fulltime since 1995 and remained as president and owner when her parents retired in 2004. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Clemson University and a Master of Personnel and Employee Relations from the University of South Carolina. In addition to leading her firm and several industry related organizations, she is a very active community volunteer who has made an impact on the future of the Upstate.

The hiring market is very strong not only in the Upstate but across the country. Talent placements are made or lost quickly due to the fast pace required to onboard top talent. One key component in the hiring process creates the foundation for a successful employment relationship: trust.

Mutual trust begins with the first interaction.

Company: Is this candidate whom he says he is? Does he provide requested information promptly and accurately? Can we trust his intentions?

Candidate: Is this company what it says it is? Does it set expectations in the hiring process that it meets or exceeds? Can I trust it enough to share my strengths, weaknesses, and career goals?

Trust builders

Timely responses by both the company and the candidate.

Clearly defined steps and transparency in the hiring process.

Honest information-sharing regarding experience, goals, and finances.

An opportunity to meet with current employees, if appropriate.

Trust killers

A lengthy and unclear hiring process.

A lack of response or followup on either side.

One-sided discussions focused on “what can you do for me?”

Sharing inconsistent information during the process.

Due to a strong economy and tight labor market, candidates have more opportunities than ever. Many feel that they have to stay on the market to secure their futures. We often see candidates accepting offers but continuing to interview. As a hiring manager, your goal is not only to attract top talent, but to create a relationship of trust.

Employers should consider their responsibilities to candidates who are making major life decisions. Candidates need to remember that giving their word should mean something. Be trustworthy and follow through once you’ve accepted a position. Your reputation is everything.

In my most recent post, I shared how it’s a candidate’s market and companies need to start making changes if they want to continue to hire and retain top talent; however, that doesn’t give candidates an excuse to get slack. Your resume is an introduction and it needs to be as hot and on fire as it is outside in this mid-July. I ask that you look at this article not as tips for your resume, but rather musts if you want to land your dream job. It’s still a very competitive market and companies want the best of the best.

Spellcheck and Proofing – I know we all think we’re excellent at spelling because we got 1st in our 5th grade spelling bee, but typos still happen. Not only do misspelled words happen, but the wrong tense or the wrong type of word happens like “there” instead of “their”. After you’ve spellchecked your resume, read it backwards. Sometimes when you’ve been staring at a document for a long time, you start to read what you intended to say versus what it might actually say. Reading the resume backwards can help you catch those mistakes.

Summary instead of Objective – Everyone knows you are trying to seek a challenging role to utilize the skills you’ve obtained in school or in previous roles. It’s a waste of space on your resume and time for those reading it. Instead of an objective, write a summary of your skills, accomplishments, and experience. It’s a snapshot of your resume and career in 2-3 sentences. Make sure to keep the summary professional. It should not include any personal details such as your marital status, health, or life story.

Education – If you recently graduated, it is completely fine to lists relevant courses taken, GPA, graduating with honors, etc. After the one-year mark, these things become less relevant and your recent experience becomes the more important topic to look at. If you graduated over 10 years ago, education is better listed below your experience. If it’s been less than 10 years, it’s still good to list above experience. Also, if you received an associate’s or bachelor’s degree, make sure you list your degree correctly. It is not “Bachelors of Science” or “Associates’s of Science”. It is listed “Bachelor of Science” or “bachelor’s degree in whatever your major was”.

Skills Section – This is the section where you list any software you have used previous or have been trained on. Examples could be Microsoft Office, Adobe Suite, accounting software such as QuickBooks, GreatPlains, Peachtree, etc. Even if you don’t think the software is relevant or up to date, it still could be similar to an employer’s current software that makes you more marketable.

Duties – Your duties should be listed as short statements of what you did at your job instead of a story. (Example – Processed weekly and monthly billing statements instead of I would process weekly and monthly billing statements for the company). They should be bulleted to make them easier to read versus in paragraph form. The duties of your current role should also be in present tense and duties of your previous jobs should be in past tense. Additionally, make sure your duties are relevant to the role you are applying for. If you’re applying for a teller role at a bank, make sure you’ve listed cash handling on your resume. Likewise, if you’re applying for product supervisor role, you don’t need to list you cleaned bathrooms for the ice cream parlor 5 years ago.

Formatting – Last but certainly not least, the formatting of a resume is very important. It helps the resume look neat and professional. Spacing should all be the same and lines should start and end on the same margin throughout the entire resume. Don’t have a section centered and then another section left-aligned. The entire resume should also be in one type of font. Sizes can vary, but don’t have too much of a gap between sizes i.e. making a title size 18 and bullets size 10. Company names, titles, and dates should be listed in a way that they stand out from the rest of the resume. I prefer to bold company titles and dates and italicize the job titles. I also list all the dates to the right of the resume for the interviewer to easily see. These formats can differ, but the point is to make sure each job stands out and can be easily read from top to bottom.

In summary, keep things professional, relevant, and neat. This is potentially the only chance you get in front of an employers’ eyes. Make it count! Do you have any other suggestions for making sure a resume is on fire?