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How do you get a job when you can’t shake hands? While interviews online via HireVue, Google Hangouts, and other platforms are growing in popularity, making an impression may seem impossible. We’re giving you five best practices for digital interviews, so you can feel more comfortable and make a better impression. 1. Check your background. While conducting an interview, keep in mind what shows up in the background. Employers will form an impression about you before you’ve even opened your mouth. Kevin Marasco, HireVue’s Chief Marketing Officer, “You want to make sure their attention is solely on you and your responses to their questions, not something that is going on behind you.” 2. Don’t dress casually. Just because you’re sitting at home for your interview doesn’t give you the excuse to wear a sweatshirt. You’re still trying to impress a potential employer. You obviously don’t sit around your house in a full suit, but you still want to look presentable. Here’s one caveat: if only the top half of you is visible on camera, shoes can be optional. 3.  Test your connection. Whether you conduct your video interview over a computer, tablet, or smartphone, it’s important to make sure your connection isn’t spotty. Marasco suggests checking your connection before you begin so you don’t look unprofessional if the video comes in choppy. 4. Practice your answers. If you’re interviewing through HireVue or a similar service to record answers to interview questions, it may be strange talking to yourself. Focus on engaging the people who will watch your interview. Maintain “eye contact” with the camera. Marasco suggests: “If you’re new to the camera, use the practice question built into HireVue and you can practice on your own device.” 5. Check your lighting. Sometimes you may think there’s plenty of light in the room for your webcam, but the viewer may not be able to see your face properly. Marasco suggests a check of the lighting: “Run a couple test shots to ensure there are no dark spots on your face.”

As a business owner, you may be wondering whether using a staffing agency is the best move for your company. Whether you are seeking direct hire or temporary talent, there are several advantages to partnering with a reputable staffing agency. If you are considering partnering with a staffing agency or recruitment firm for the first time, here are some advantages to consider: 1. We have vast networks of skilled candidates: Staffing agencies can find employees proactively. At TA Staffing, we use networks of both active and passive candidates from our talent networks to ensure you receive the best employees possible. With multiple locations, we have recruiters looking for the best candidates that will fit your needs. And, since they’re interacting with candidates all the time, their database of resumes becomes their go-to recruiting tool 2. You will save time: According to Glassdoor, when you figure in the time you spend posting the job, reviewing resumes, and scheduling interviews, it equals up to roughly 22 days. When you place these tasks in the hands of a staffing company, it allows you to spend more time on your business and put the hiring process in the hands of staffing professionals. 3. You will save money: According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average cost of a new employee is over $57,967.88. When you add in the overtime that other employees put in during the vacancy of the position, recruiting costs, and screening and testing costs, that number continues to grow exponentially. Businesses can reduce the costs and time of recruitment, screening and hiring new employees by using a staffing agency. 4. You have a guaranteed hire: 84% of new hires don’t live up to the expectations of their employer. After you have spent your time and money on a new hire, you want them to live up to your expectations. Staffing agencies know how to find candidates that are the right fit, both in terms of skills and culture. 5. You get to try before you buy: With staffing agencies, you can have the person work on a temporary basis first. This allows you time to evaluate the person’s performance and whether they will fit in with other employees and the culture before you hire them. If either the employer or the employee do not see that this is the best fit, then it stays temporary instead of being a permanent deal. We want the fit to be the best possible and want both parties to be happy with the working situation.  Staffing agencies allow companies to focus more on your business. We allow you more flexibility for staffing, by providing temporary staffing solutions that help your business grow. At TA Staffing, we deliver exemplary service that will help relieve you of your job searching stress!

What makes a candidate stick out on a resume? The short answer is nothing, it’s a pdf. Resumes don’t reflect fit, personality, communication skills, and so much more. In many cases candidates either game the system by overstating skills and experience, or clog the system up by sending resumes to job postings they are woefully unqualified for. It’s not uncommon for a job posting to receive more than a hundred resumes with less than 5% meeting the requirements. It’s become a colossal waste of time and detrimental to the ATS. Since the resume process hasn’t changed in years, many or most HR Managers have become so comfortable in the process they don’t even question if there’s a better way, but with today’s technology, a better way is emerging. Social media, big data, digital interviews, and even artificial intelligence is making their way into the screening and hiring process. A Growing Trend – Grace Swanson, vice president of human resources at fast growing precision parts manufacturer Accumold, says she’s not a fan of resumes. Many of the resumes she encounters are filled with irrelevant, and often false information. It’s just not a good vehicle. As for Nathan Hughes, with Detroit Labs, a 130 employee tech start up, his position on resumes is crystal clear – he doesn’t accept them. A recent survey by Korn Ferry Futurestep confirms that resumes may not be as critical as they once were. Resumes came in dead last when HR managers were asked what was the most important part of the job search process. Networking was first, followed by interviewing and social media presence. To make matters worse for the resume, The Ladders, an online job board for six figure placement, found that recruiters and hiring managers spend on the average less than six seconds per resume. Can your career be summed up in six seconds? I hope not. With resumes, “we’re judging people more on their ability to summarize their career than their ability to actually do the job,” says Kevin Parker, CEO of HireVue, a digital interviewing platform. The resume also works against those that are self-taught, a group that includes a sizable chunk of today’s software developers, says Vivek Ravisanker, CEO of HackerRank, who predicts that 2018 will be the end of the resume for developers. It’s believed that Leonardo da Vinci wrote the first resume in 1482, and the process hasn’t changed much since. There has to be a better way.

As leaders in the staffing industry, we have experience with a number of industries, in several states, with over 30 years under our belts. When we are introduced to new candidates or organization looking for help with managing staff, temporary hiring, contract work, or job placement, we get 5 common questions. Here, we answer these frequently asked questions as we’re sure you may have these same question and the answers help illustrate our expertise. What is a temporary agency? What’s a temporary (or temp) agency? A temp agency is a staffing company that provides temporary and contract employees to businesses that have immediate and long term needs to address. A temp agency evaluates candidates and individuals needing job placement in relation to the opportunities with businesses needing employees to help the complete a job or project. Temp agencies and the temp positions they fill meet the needs of both the business and the individuals needing income; in many cases–where the business needs turn into long-term opportunities–temp hires become full-time hires. What is the/a recruiting process? What’s the recruiting process? The recruiting process varies depending on the type of position, industry, and needs. A standard recruitment process involves five main steps once the client has determined and defined the need: Posting of the position and searching for possible candidates. Evaluation (screening) of resumes to determine what candidates align with the position to schedule interviews. Interviews are conducted. Interviews offer a way to evaluate how candidates respond under pressure, reply to physical interaction, and handle stress. Second or third interviews may be conducted to provide deeper insight into candidates from a business perspective but once interviews are concluded, the candidate(s) that fit the job description and align best with the organization’s culture is likely to be offered a hiring letter. Once the A-level candidate(s) accept, it’s time for onboarding and becoming a part of the team! What does general labor mean? General labor is defined as any type of work related to physical activity or manual labor. In employment fields, general labor relates to construction, painting, repair, and such. The difference between general labor and skilled labor is that general labor typically does not require higher education, certification, or extensive experience. Skilled labor is the opposite and refers to employees or laborers that have a degree, certification, or specific training to allow them to complete a “skilled” task or project. What is contract staffing? When an employer or organization has a specific task that has a clear deliverable or outcome, they may offer a contract to get the project done. In a contract position, the scope of the project is clearly defined, with expected results and responsibilities of both parties, the employer and the contracted staff (contractor(s)), as completely written out as possible. Once the project is completed the employment may end unless both parties agree to new terms or full-time employment. What does TA Staffing stand for? The “TA” in TA Staffing comes from “Temporary Alternatives” our corporate name, but in today’s world we like to think it means “Talent Acquisition”. Talent Acquisition focuses on the utilization of a candidate and their skillset for a position versus just “filling holes” or “filling seats” in an office. Through a rigorous recruiting process TA Staffing helps identify the ideal talent for the ideal positions. Resumes only give half the story of a candidate, a person. To get the full scale of a candidate’s talents, a resume and interviews are needed. Samples of previous work and even test of know-how may be required. These requirements are what set skilled talent apart from a sea of applicants. TA Staffing has spent years refining our talent acquisition process and digital interviews to find the best of the best, for the best employers. Follow these links to read more about our associate recruitment processes, search jobs, and discover more on our digital interviews for you or your organization. Contact us online or give us a call at 615.366.1100.

What’s a digital Interview? In a nutshell, digital interviewing is a better way of interviewing. It saves time for both the hiring manager or talent acquistion specialist and the candidate. Not to mention additional resources that accompanies interviewing. There are a few, great platforms out there that help businesses with hiring, at TA Staffing our experience is with HireVue, the leader in the digital interview space. Digital Interviews allow prospective hires and candidates to interview whenever and wherever is convenient for them, from a PC, Mac, or smartphone! This same flexibility is available to the hiring personnel or group as well, giving them the opportunity to view, engage with, and evaluate candidates at their leisure–something vital in today’s digital businesses. In TA Staffing’s customized use of the HireVue platform, interview questions pop up as text on the candidate’s screen. They are given a set amount of time predetermined by the interview administrator, say 30 seconds, to think about their response, followed by a set time to respond; we often recommend around 3-5 minutes to our clients. Responses can be multiple choice, essay, coding or video. The response type is set by the administrator. For example: “do you have a background in sales?” The candidate would have the option to select a “yes” or “no” checkbox, but with a question like, “tell me about your sales experience” the candidate would be asked to actually record their response. Most questions allow candidates to re-record responses. Once the candidate completes the interview, usually five to ten questions, the system automatically sends an email to any evaluator or evaluators associated with the interview. The email indicates that someone has completed the interview and that it is ready to be evaluated. Those with access to the interview can then watch, share, rate, and compare candidates (if others have been completed) anywhere, and at any time! Increasingly, digital interviews are used as a digital screening layer for businesses, replacing the phone screening, premature in person interviews, resume scanning, and scheduling hassles that have plagued organizations the world over. At the end of the day, they eliminate the bad first round interview, provides a larger recruiting net, and allow candidates who are not available during normal business hours to showcase their skills and show whether they are a true fit. To learn more, see examples, and talk with us about our digital interviews for your organization, contact us online or give us a call at 615.366.1100. If you are looking for that next, right position, please view our job board.