Business Management | BizSieve.com

Latest Trends in Recruitment

Resume experts foresee radical changes in recruitment strategies used today. As the current market presents a wealth of possibilities to candidates, it is necessary that the organization adopts a strategy to score over its competitors.

Recruitment pitch
Image by Hey Paul Studios

Some of the recruitment strategies adopted by the organizations are listed below:

Outsourcing processes

For over a decade, HR processes have been outsourced from different firms. The personnel drawn from other companies may assist the organization in screening eligible candidates. The organization may then pick a suitable candidate from the short listed candidates. The firms that provide outsourcing services are always equipped with talented resume experts who may be commissioned to different organizations. Of course, they charge an intermediate fee for their services.

The benefits of this process are:

The organization is saved the hassle of planning human resources in advance.
Operational flexibility, competitive advantage and Value creation is ensured for the organization.
The organization can channelize their energy towards the levels of HR processes.
The organization is freed from the cares of crafting salary packages and filtering the needless candidates in entrusting their cares to resume experts.
A lot of the organization’s time and money is saved.

Branding

The recruitment process is substantially eased if the prospective candidates view the organization as an established firm that supports the interests of the employees.

Marketing the organization by means of advertisements goes a long way in creating a favorable image of the company, but it is also necessary that the organization lives up to the image.

Referrals

In spite of the internet and the rising marketing strategies, referrals continue to remain as the best source of hiring talent. Certain organizations grant the liberty of recruiting, screening and pre-conditioning candidates to reliable employees.

Raiding

Organizations have sensed the advantage of buying rather than developing talent. Raiding is the process of snatching competent talent from another organization in the industry. The candidate might be the employee of a rival firm but the organization entices the employee with a better salary package and other fringe benefits.

Staffing resources temporarily

Engaging the services of a temporary employee is on the rise. The hires can handle the variations in workload and can be considered eventually for permanent retention.

Recruiting online:

Large firms use the wealth of information available over the internet to short list suitable candidates. Backed by technology, the process of recruiting is eased. The career options and vacancies are showcased all over the internet. Some people seeking a job consult resume experts to draft their curriculum vitae so that employers go over their resume. Experts in the job industry have stressed the benefits of e-recruitment:

Cost reduction.
No third-party involvement.
Time for recruitment process is drastically lessened.
Selection of the most suitable candidates.
Enhanced efficiency of recruitment process.

The organization must gauge the candidate’s ability and emphasize on relevant subjects like: culture, training investment, environment, social responsibility of the company and development. Bonuses are also an efficient way to lure eligible talent.

About the Author:

Penny is an expert with www.resumeedge.com/. For more information from resume experts, visit their website.

Tips to Survive When Your Small Business Is In Financial Crisis

The current economic situation has in one way or another impacted every business in the world. Business owners are struggling to survive the economic downtime. Small business will easily fall prey to the economic down time. To avoid the crippling effects of the financial crisis you need to find some tips and tricks that will help your business to survive.

Here are some well-researched tips will help your company to withstand these hardships:

Cut the costs

Cost cutting is the best way to save some money. However, be careful when doing this as an improper decision can be just as damaging as the recession itself. Some small business owners start cutting their labour cost when they encounter crisis. However you have to be practical this may not be advisable as when the sales pick up you don’t have staff to cover it. So cut down on factors that are not essential or have little impact on other functions.

Pay your bills on time

This is the best way to save some money as the late payment charges and other penalties can prove to be crippling. Your credit rating will also be improved thus enabling you to receive financial support from the institutions in the future without difficulty. If you don’t have money on your due date to pay off your bills you can opt for payday loans. These loans provide you with instant cash and are easily repayable on your next payday.

Spend some money on marketing

You may be under the misconception that spending money during an economic down turn is a bad idea but in reality it is a good idea. You need to be more aggressive with your marketing during down turns. Marketing may cost you but it gives you a good return on your investment. If you lack funds to invest on marketing you can get the help from the payday loans.

Review all the costs

You need to review all the costs. This will help you to find where your money is going. Check the costs of fuel, water and energy overheads. You can set some fixed-price contracts on these areas to reduce the costs.

Motivate yourself

It is advisable to motivate yourself in such a way that you can face any kind of problems in bad times. Also motivate your employees to face the challenges. Reading motivational books and magazines will develop a positive attitude which will help you to overcome any type of problem.

If you follow the above tips with a strong desire and a little financial discipline then you can easily survive the financial crisis.

Author Bio: My name is Michelle. I am a tech writer from UK. I am into Finance. Catch me @financeport

11 Ways to Make Your Small Business Successful

For most of us, starting a small business is no big deal. However, making it successful is the ultimate goal that everyone has in their mind. There are certain techniques that you can use to make your small business run in a smooth manner and earn regular income from it. However, you need to have strong willpower and determination to make your small business successful. Given below are 11 simple ways to do it:

1) Develop your emotional capital

Your emotional capital is the most important resource that you need to run your small business successfully. It is the combination of your zeal, love, and optimistic viewpoint about your business. You need to balance your work and family and also protect your health in order to be successful.

2) Affirm your entrepreneurial freedom

When you’re running a small business, you’re the boss of yourself. There should be equilibrium between arrogance and ignorance. You should understand what to know and what to ignore.

3) Know your clients

Identifying your clients is the most important thing that you have to do to make your small business successful. You should have a clear idea who your customers are. When you are manufacturing fashion accessories for teenage girls, then you should not aim the male teenagers for selling or promoting your merchandise. If you are an antivirus seller, then you should not target babysitters.

4) Have a marketing budget in place

You need money to promote your small business. Therefore, you should decide how much you are going to spend for this. Without customers, you can’t earn money and for getting customers, you have to adopt the right marketing techniques. There are various ways of promoting your small business such as flyers, pamphlets, postcards, and different online methods. You should not assume that your product will spontaneously market itself.

5) Know your competitors

Understanding your competitors well is the key to positioning your product rightly in the market. See what your competitors are doing to attract new customers and try to emulate them. If possible, do it in a better way.

6) Don’t hesitate to say no

Sometimes, a situation may arise when you need to say no to a prospective client or customer or partner. This is particularly important when you feel that entering into a new business venture or contract will not turn out to be beneficial for your small business in the end.

7) Know that “no” indicates not instantly

When a potential customer rejects your instant product or service, there is no need to be disheartened or lose hope. Try to understand why they did so and take the necessary measures accordingly. Keep in touch with them so that they can be approached in future. Take their contact details and inform them about special offers you are giving.

8) Use the Internet

In this age of information technology, the Internet is indispensable when it comes to promoting your business. Create a website of your business and equip it with sections like about us, products and services, testimonials and contact us. Make the most of the Internet to connect to your customers and make your business successful. If needed, go for various Internet applications that are available from free sources.

9) Don’t be extravagant

If you feel that any expenditure you are making is unnecessary, stop that immediately. Extravagance for a small business is a strictly “no-no” when you have a restricted budget.

10) Maintain your accounts well

You should maintain the following types of accounting documents and records:

Cash records
Cash payments
Sales records
Accounts receivable

11) Be a good manager

Being a good manager depends on the following factors:

Hiring the right workforce
Training them adequately
Suitable time management
Regulating absenteeism

There is no guarantee that your small business will be successful instantly. So, don’t leap before you look.

Employment Background Screenings: It’s Not just about Criminal Offenses

Even as a small business owner, you need to be extremely cautious when adding new hires to your staff. After all, your employees will represent your company as a whole and you’ll want to make sure that you don’t hire someone who could potentially taint your image or ruin your company altogether—for example, you wouldn’t want to hire someone accused of embezzlement. That said, conducting a background check is important. While background checks are great at highlighting someone’s criminal history, they shouldn’t be the only thing you reference when determining whether someone is a good fit for your team or not. To be 100% positive that you’re making the right hire decision, you might want to consider the options below.

Background screening
Image by John Dalrymple

Check Social Media Sites

Before you even ask someone to meet you for an interview, it’s best to see what kind of online trail your applicant has. A simple Google search can bring up a plethora of information, but sometimes it’s just best to go to the direct source—meaning plug in your applicant’s name directly in various social media search bars like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn just to see what pops up. Most social media accounts will be set to private (as any smart applicant’s profile should be) but you might just be able to get a feel for what the person is like by reading his or her’s “about me” section and checking out his or her profile picture. If you do have free access to the applicant’s Facebook it’s best to check before and after the interview to see if the candidate says anything negative about the company or sounds too pompous in general, like “nailed that interview.” Some employers are now asking for applicants to log-in Facebook during the interview. I personally think it’s a bit extreme, but if you feel it’s necessary it’s definitely an option.

Verify Degrees

I cannot stress this enough. Just because an applicant says he or she graduated with a certain degree from a certain college doesn’t meant that it’s true. It even happens in the corporate world too: earlier this summer Yahoo’s now former CEO got the ax when it was discovered he lied about having a degree he never earned on his resume. That said, some applicants lie. To make sure that the information is legitimate, all you need to do is call the Registrar’s Office of the college the applicant claims he or she went to and they’ll be able to say whether they earned their diploma from there or not.

Always Call References

Last but certainly not least always follow up with references—at least then you can confirm that your applicant did in fact have prior work experience at another place of employment. You also might want to do a quick informal background check on your applicant’s references just so you know they’re not related to the applicant or anything like that.

About the Author: Jane Smith is a freelance blogger for www.backgroundcheck.org, a website that helps employers and consumers learn about the ins and outs of a thorough background check. She welcomes all questions and comments at janesmith161@gmail.com

Top Ways To Manage Your Business More Efficiently

So many factors go into the successes and failures of a business. Success might come from a stellar product, a dedicated team at the helm and enough freedom and accountability to make daily time management as smooth as possible. On the flip-side of things, a company may hit a few missteps along the way because of how understaffed they may be against the number of projects coming in, or they may be overflowing in one department and not enough in another.

The latter problem isn’t a cinch to fix by any means, but it’s also not a daunting task, either. A majority of businesses may need help in only a few areas, while others may need a helping hand for a much longer period. Either way, getting down to the root issue of management issues and structure as a whole is the first order of business.

Here are some others to follow from there.

It Starts At The Top

Any good business knows they didn’t reach the apex of success by dogging it within the management ranks. Any business needs a solid leader in place to not only hire qualified and passionate managers and supervisors below them, but instill a positive direction to the staff as a whole.

Being on top of your game as a CEO requires intelligence to know which structure works best for your staff and how they complete projects and roll right along at a comfortable, but productive pace.

Because Time Management Is A Telling Factor

Dollars and cents tell the big picture at the end of the day. Regardless of whether your staff is bright, motivated and give their due diligence to each and every project laid before them, if the time and labor costs start rising more and more above any net gains, it’ll chip away over time at the core success of your business. This is the one area where you’ll have to survey if a department feels understaffed, and if that’s the case you go out and hire more capable employees to join the already capable staff. While you might be thinking that would deduce the profit margins from the onset, then you might have to look out how your customer pricing model looks and make changes where needed.

Have An Effective Tracking System

There are dozens, if not hundreds, of project tracking software available. Some are geared towards very intricate tracking where multiple projects are being worked on from dozens of departments in your office. And then there are others like Trello, which has a much more simplified approach to the interface. Basecamp is another popular method that comes to mind.

You can find other choices here.

How Liberating Is The Office Environment?

One of the most looked-over time savers for a business is the company atmosphere itself. How are your employees responding on a daily basis, or more importantly, is the cubicle feeling too constrained for its own good? While you went out and hired the best team around, if your office doesn’t reflect a welcoming, more open vibe, there could be little dips here and there with how invigorated your employees are. Projects and deadlines could soon carry over towards similar sentiments if you at least don’t poll the office as to what their likes/dislikes are with their work environment.

Always Be Thinking It Can Run Even Smoother

No matter how many changes and tweaks you do to both the company structure and how projects are drawn up and executed, the mentality should be there’s always an extra minute or two to shave off next. Part of that speaks to keeping an eye on motivation highs and lows, but mainly it’s reviewing and comparing past project management sheets with the current one. Basically, think of it as one, long marathon and your entire office is practicing each and every day hoping to best their run time from yesterday until they’ve hit that barrier to where they feel confident enough to stick with that stride.

And that last part about knowing when the best formula’s arrived is crucial because you don’t want to risk burn-out with your team, nor do you want to affect the quality of the projects. It’s just that any good business is never satisfied with the present, because they expect the future to be even brighter.

Author Bio: Kyle O’Brien is a freelance writer and has covered many topics on the business side of things, including corporate structure tips, leadership intangibles and much more. He’s consulted for ej4, a performance improvement company that helps develop cohesive e-learning video platforms for businesses.