It depends on whom you ask.

To some employers, requiring that a candidate be gainfully employed is just “smart business” – helping them control the flood of applications and filter out “damaged goods” before spending valuable time and resources on screening and interviewing.

But if you’ve been unemployed for an extended period and are trying to find work, it’s hard to see the logic in a practice like this.

The harsh reality?  Jobless discrimination is a troubling trend in hiring.  Despite numerous EEO laws and safeguards, some employers ignore the résumés sent to them by job seekers who aren’t working.  In the current economic and unemployment climate, discrimination based on a candidate’s employment status is just one more obstacle you have to face in your job search.

Now is a time to stay strong.  If you’re unemployed and looking for work, here is some sound advice for beating jobless discrimination – before it beats you:

• Forgive yourself – and move on.  Losing a job is nothing unusual, especially these days.  Mergers, cost-cutting measures and total shutdowns have forced countless people out of their jobs over the past few years.  Whatever your reason for being unemployed, you need a positive mindset to tackle what may be a tough job search.  The best thing you can do is forgive yourself for being out of work, and then move on.
• If you’ve only been out of work for a short time (a few weeks or months), invest a lot of time and energy into networking and informational interviews.  This will help you get past the initial human resources screening that would eliminate you from consideration.  Use networking as a tool to demonstrate your willingness to work hard, and your drive to find a job may overcome the bias against you as a person out of work.
• Ignore the verbiage in job posts that suggests an employer intends to discriminate based on recent employment status.  Just because the discriminatory language is present in a job listing doesn’t mean you have to adhere to the request!  If your job skills and experience are a good fit for the posting, by all means apply for that position – regardless of your employment situation.
• Consider adjusting your résumé.  If you’ve been out of work for awhile, you may want to switch from a chronological to functional résumé format.  This will allow you to lead with your skills and qualifications, outside the context of your employment history.  Additionally, you may want to omit dates from your employment history section.  Once your skills have an employer’s attention, he can inquire about the dates.
• Solidify references from previous employer(s).  When you’re unemployed, a strong endorsement from an employer – even one who let you go – may outweigh the length of your unemployment.

Temporary and Contract Work – Your Best Bet for Beating Jobless Discrimination

Looking for a sure-fire way to overcome your jobless stigma?  Go to work for a Connecticut staffing service like A.R. Mazzotta – as soon as possible!  It’s easiest to find a job while you’re working, so stack the deck in your favor.  Beyond merely changing your employment status, temporary and contract work can help you:

• Earn valuable income – at a time when you really need it.
• Keep your spirits up – by being productive and engaged.
• Build your résumé and keep your skills sharp – the variety inherent in temporary assignments presents you with new challenges, allowing you to grow and gain experience.
• Find direct employment – if you prove yourself on the job, your temporary or contract position may convert to a direct opportunity.  Additionally, while you’re on assignment, A.R. Mazzotta can actively search for direct positions that match your skills, experience and interests.

Contact your local A.R. Mazzotta office today to learn more about jobs in Middletown, Wallingford and Westbrook, CT.

Whatever you call them, an interviewer’s snap decisions are critical when it comes to your job search.  Are you doing everything you can to create a great first impression?  You should make it a priority – because the simple truth is, an interviewer sizes up you and your abilities within the first few minutes of meeting you.  And the more experienced he is, the more likely he is to draw conclusions about you based on limited information.

Fair or unfair, a potential employer is heavily influenced by first impressions, or what his experience tells him are “pivotal moments” in his interaction with you.  So to land the job you want, use these tips to make his snap decisions work in your favor:

Do your homework. Spend a good amount of time before the interview date researching the employer.  Their company website is a great place to start.  Don’t just skim through the information – really read it.  Find out everything you can about the organization’s history, mission, lines of business and key personnel.

Next, Google the company and find out what others have written or said about them.  Check newspapers, business magazines or other reputable sources to further educate yourself.  When you finally head into your interview, you’ll have an additional level of knowledge and confidence that will shine through – and keep from looking like a “deer in the headlights” if the interviewer asks you to tell him what you know about the company.

Remember that actions speak louder than words. The nonverbal cues you send from the moment you walk into an interview are scrutinized.  Pay careful attention to your posture, handshake and eye contact to create a positive first impression.

Come prepared. Put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes.  What would you think of a candidate who had to ask for a pen, or who rifled through a cluttered briefcase to dig out a wrinkled résumé?  Have a crisp copy of your résumé and references, a pen and notepad for notes, and your portfolio (if applicable) organized and ready to go.  Doing so will allow you to hit the ground running and immediately focus on the interviewer.

Avoid common interview mistakes. To succeed in your job search, you need to back up your skills and experience with a first impression that leaves no doubt that you’re the right person for the job.  Arrogance and sloppy attire are mistakes you simply cannot afford to make.  Be confident, but make sure you’re not cocky.  Overconfidence could be misconstrued as indifference – suggesting you could take or leave a job offer.  Similarly, you should dress for interview success.  Failure to do so could convey that you don’t really care about the job opportunity enough to dress appropriately.

Ask only relevant questions. Show the interviewer that you’ve done your homework by preparing a few questions pertinent to the job or the company (use the research you’ve conducted to help you generate ideas).  If they’re answered during the course of the interview, don’t feel pressured to make up new ones on the spot.  Throw-away questions won’t impress an interviewer – they’ll only end the conversation on a down note.

Thank the interviewer. Expressing thanks is one of those “pivotal moments” an interviewer may hang his hat on.  So without fail, thank the interviewer for his time both at the beginning and the end of your conversation.  Tell him that you’re excited about the opportunity.  Positive emotion and good manners go a long way toward creating a lasting favorable impression.

Ask for the job. Good salespeople ask for the sale; good job seekers should ask for the job.  Beyond thanking the interviewer, say, “I would really love to work here.”  This sounds simple, but so many candidates fail to do it!

Land Your Dream Job with A.R. Mazzotta Employment Specialists

As a leading Connecticut staffing and placement firm, we match job seekers like you with rewarding employment opportunities every day.  Contact us today to learn about temporary, temp-to-hire and direct hire employment opportunities for Connecticut job seekers.

There’s good reason.  Across Connecticut, retailers are already setting up their holiday displays, priming consumers to begin their seasonal spending just a little bit earlier.  Despite a flagging recovery, the National Retail Federation still predicts a holiday spending increase of 2.8% (slightly higher than the 10-year average), which means that consumers will indeed be opening their wallets this year.

But as you know, the holiday rush is not limited to retailers.  For companies that deal in manufacturing, hospitality, shipping/delivery, customer service, travel and even finance, the end of the year can be an extremely busy – if not the busiest – time of year.

So although we’ve not yet reached fall’s midpoint, it’s time to gear up if you anticipate a need for seasonal help this year.  Use this list of tips to find the best seasonal employees and get the best results from them:

Find the Best

Bring back your superstars. Start by contacting your best holiday workers from last year.  If you used a staffing service last season, you can even request specific temporary employees again.  Because they’ve already proven themselves on the job, and understand your company and its workflow processes, these workers are the smartest choice.

Consider a variety of sources. If you will be recruiting on your own, cast a wide net to develop your applicant pool.  Sources of potential seasonal employees include job fairs, classified ads, online job sites, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and referrals from current employees.

Partner with a staffing service. Because they maintain databases of highly skilled candidates who are ready to work, a staffing service can quickly supply the temporary help you need to closely match your fluctuating demand.  As an added benefit, a staffing firm handles all the recruiting, interviewing and background checks you require, so you can stay focused on your most important priorities.  To get the best results, invite the staffing representative to your work location.  Give him a tour of your site, so he can develop a first-hand picture of your exact staff requirements.

Offer competitive pay. Make sure you attract top performers by paying at or above competitors’ rates.  During your busy season, you need high quality supplemental staff who can learn quickly, perform consistently and ultimately increase productivity – so it’s worth it to pay a little more for the right people.

Manage for Success

Start off on the right foot. The seasonal rush can be hard and stressful on everyone – especially workers who are new to your company.  Get everyone on your staff (direct, seasonal and/or temporary employees) together for a pre-rush kick-off to let them know how much they are appreciated.  Use this opportunity to orient and introduce new employees, wrapping up with a formal tour and review of company policies.

Provide adequate training. Although it’s time-consuming, be sure to give seasonal employees the training they need to succeed.  They may only be working for you for a short time, but their performance is no less important to your company’s success.  After an initial orientation, pair each supplemental worker with a permanent employee for practical training and support during the learning curve.  Ultimately, well-trained workers will be more independent, productive and less likely to make costly mistakes.

Closely monitor initial performance. During your busy season, you shouldn’t tolerate – and can’t afford – mediocre performance.  If a seasonal worker isn’t living up to your standards, replace him.  Staffing services provide a distinct advantage in this respect, because most offer replacement guarantees on their temporary workers.  If the assigned employee does not perform as expected within an initial time period, the staffing service will provide a replacement, free of charge.

Consider completion bonuses. Dealing with high turnover during a critical time can disrupt workflow, waste valuable time and potentially cost you customers.  Encourage seasonal workers to stay for the duration of your busy season by offering a cash incentive or gift card for completion.

Plan for Seasonal Staffing Success – This Year and Next

The holiday season is already ramping up, and A.R. Mazzotta is ready to answer your call.  Throughout Connecticut, we deliver the clerical/administrative, light industrial, technical and professional staff our clients need to thrive during their busiest time of year.

Successful seasonal staffing requires careful planning, so learn what you can from this year.  As you progress through the next few months, take notes on what works and what doesn’t.  Keep records of what types and how much supplemental staff you require, so you can refer to this information next year.  Mark your 2012 calendar with dates to begin recruiting early and/or meet with A.R. Mazzotta to plan your seasonal staffing needs.

Most managers do.  Traditional performance reviews may fall short for any number of reasons:

• Appraisals may be subjective. Appraisals often reflect what a manager remembers (typically the most recent events).  Managers may write traditional reviews based on their opinions, because real performance management takes substantial time and follow-up to do well.
• Evaluators may not be skilled in providing effective feedback.  Most managers aren’t properly trained in how to provide specific feedback based on employee behaviors.  To boot, managers often feel uncomfortable in the role of “judge.”  As a result, they may avoid giving honest, direct feedback in order to maintain workplace harmony.
• Managers may not use performance evaluations properly. Because evaluations have proven ineffective in the past, many managers don’t see the value in conducting them properly.  Alternately, they may misuse reviews as a way to reprimand employees – instead of using them to improve performance.

So if traditional methods don’t work, what does?

The truth is, there is no “right” way to conduct an effective performance review.  An appraisal system that works for one company may not be effective for another.

In recent years, however, an increasing number of organizations have recognized the impact corporate values have on their ability to be competitive.  They’ve realized that when employees’ daily work behaviors support company values, the result is an organization that’s more unified, mission-driven and ultimately more successful.  To evaluate and drive performance, these companies have moved away from the traditional appraisal process, in favor of a values-based review system.

A values-based performance evaluation is exactly what it sounds like – a company uses its core values as the framework on which they build a performance appraisal system.  With a little creativity, you can use these tips for incorporating values-based criteria to build a better review process for your company:

1. Clearly communicate your company’s mission, vision and values. Communicate your values and core beliefs through handbooks, message boards, orientation programs, training and daily reinforcement by company leaders.  If you want employees’ performance to be driven by these values, you must make them clear every day.
2. Articulate your company’s values in terms of behaviors.  For each position, identify a list of specific work behaviors associated with each core value.  For example, if “innovation” is a core value, an effective work behavior might be “redesigning work flow processes, based on changes in the market, operational needs or available resources.”Conversely, an ineffective behavior could be “uses only established methods for getting work done, without considering changes that impact the efficiency of the procedure.”  Strive to identify the 10 to 15 most important values-based work behaviors needed for success in each type of position.
3. Solicit feedback.  No change in your review process will succeed unless you have buy-in from top to bottom.  Once you’ve developed behavior lists, share them with others in your organization (including the employees who will be subject to review) and solicit feedback.  Make sure senior management has the opportunity to review and refine the lists before they’re implemented.
4. Check understanding. Make it clear to your employees that they will be judged on the new criteria you’ve established.  Provide employees with a list of the new standards you will use to evaluate them, so that everyone understands what is expected.
5. Make values a part of everyday management. Once you’ve established new criteria, don’t just file them away until it’s review time.  Make them part of your everyday management.  When you make a decision, relate it to a value.  When you reprimand or praise, refer to a value. Help your employees achieve their performance goals by continually reminding them of what your company stands for.  Small as these actions may sound, they go a long way toward bringing core values alive in your organization – and ultimately driving employee performance.

A.R. Mazzotta was founded on the principle of providing employment services of the finest quality and unsurpassed customer service. Incorporating valuable lessons learned from over 40 years of experience, our company values are the cornerstone of our business culture. Uncompromising integrity and the highest professional ethical principles are woven into every aspect of our business. And, we are committed to the communities in which we work and live.

Remaining true to this founding vision, our expertise is in extending personalized service and crafting customized staffing solutions to produce quality placements. We understand your business, philosophy, culture and goals. We understand the talents and career goals of our candidates. That’s how we deliver positive results. And that is why companies and job seekers have trusted A.R. Mazzotta for generations.

Happy New Year!