Train Your Team to be a Recruiting Machine

Seasonal hiring is always intense. That’s why it’s smart to mobilize your entire team to help your business compete for talent. Here’s how to train your team to be a recruiting machine.

Share your hiring plan with the entire team.Employees want to help their employers find talent, to ensure they’re working with other great people. Now’s the time to share your hiring plan with your team. Set up weekly meetings so you can share the current status of job openings and to respond to questions people may have about candidates. If your workforce is geographically dispersed, host meetings using Skype. 

Leverage your brand ambassadors. Make a list of employees who represent your company with as much enthusiasm as you do. These people are your brand ambassadors. Most likely they are already telling close friends and family members why your company is such a great place to work. All you need to do now is to encourage them to alert everyone they know to the fact that you are actively hiring seasonal help.

Establish or reactivate your employee referral plan. Employees will dig deeper into their social network if there is something in it for them. If you don’t have an employee referral plan, where employees receive a reward for referring a candidate that is hired for a particular position, start one immediately. If you’ve already got a plan in place, then now’s the time to remind employees how they can help the company fill seasonal jobs and receive a gift for themselves this holiday season.

Assign line employees interviewing responsibilities. If your company is doing a lot of entry-level hiring this holiday season then you’ll need to rapidly expand your hiring team. Recruit your line employees to participate in the interview process. Assignments may range from phone interviewsto in-person interviews, depending on the employee’s capabilities and the number of positions you are filling. Be sure everyone on the seasonal recruitment team receives training on how to interview seasonal workers and select employees.

Encourage employees to be more social. A lot of hiring today is a direct result of social recruiting. An example of social recruiting is when an employee tells her Facebook friends about a job opening in her department. Her friends respond by sharing the news with their friends. Before you know it, people from various places are going on line to apply for the job. Encourage employees to Tweet about seasonal job vacancies on their Twitter accounts as well.

Send your team packing. You can no longer sit back and wait for talent to come to you. You have to go out and find the talent. Encourage employees to look for talent in unexpected places. For example, if an employee receives great service at a local restaurant or retailer, urge the employee to gather the contact information of the person who served them. Then call that person immediately to arrange for an interview. 

Urge workers to recruit family members. Some workers may be shy about approaching people they hardly know and asking them to apply for a seasonal job. However, most would consider asking a relative if he’s interested in a seasonal job. Encourage your workers to recruit family members. Make it easy for them to do this. Provide them with a brief script they can easily text or email.

The best present you can give yourself for the holidays is a synchronized hiring team whose participation in the recruitment process enables you to have a stress free hiring season.

Conduct the Interview without the Resume

Resumes are a handy way to quickly learn about a candidate’s experience and skills. But once a candidate gets in the door, it’s time to set the resume aside and focus on the person in front of you.

Relying too much on a resume can turn an interview into an interrogation, says Matt Doucette, director of global talent acquisition at Monster. 

“That approach doesn’t work. It makes them uncomfortable and gives a bad candidate experience,” he says. Instead, a behavioral interview that’s resume-free is more likely to create a conversation and help you find the top talent you need to grow your business.

Interviewing without a resume can be an adjustment, but the result can be worth it. Here’s how to do it right.

Explain Your Decision
It can be a little disconcerting when job candidates realize you’re conducting an interview without a resume, says Seth Matheson, director of Talent Fusion delivery RPO at Monster.com. Job candidates are used to seeing hiring managers reviewing the resume during the interview and looking for ideas to talk about. “Going in without a resume looks like you’re not prepared,” Matheson says.

To put the candidate at ease, be open about why you’re not working off their resume, Matheson says. “The first thing I say is that I want to have a conversation,” he says. Above all else, says Matheson, “I need to be prepared about the questions I ask, because not prepping is a recipe for disaster, but I tell them I want them to be comfortable as we have a conversation during the interview.”

Look Forward, Not Back
Many hiring managers use the resume as a conversation-starter for candidates to talk about their work history. But this puts the focus on what the candidates have done at other companies, rather than how they will solve your problems. 

“When you think about hiring, you’re trying to fill a gap you have in your team,” Doucette says. “You’re not hiring for what they did at another company. You’re hiring them for their processes and the way they think throughout their career.”

To get a clearer idea of whether the candidate has what it takes, describe a problem, challenge or gap your company is facing and then let the candidate talk. 

“Interviewers tend not to tell people ‘this is the project you’d be working on, and these are the outcomes I want,’” Doucette says. When you outline the role you need to fill at your organization, the conversation naturally moves toward how the candidate would use their skills and experiences to meet those needs.

Focus on Behavioral Questions
Removing the resume from the interview process calls for behavioral questions that focus on the candidates’ judgement in certain situations. This approach gets at the details that resumes don’t often cover, including how candidates approach their work and a more values-based interviewstrategy.

Too often managers hire a candidate based on their resume or skills – and often fire the employee for attitude or culture, says Rick Maher, a member of The Alternative Board, an international peer advisory board, and CEO of Effective Human Resources, an HR consulting firm in Port Jefferson, New York. 

Behavioral questions  are more likely to spark a conversation that provides deeper insights into how they think and what’s important to them. This will help the manager hire for company culture more effectively, Maher says.

Matheson says one of his favorite questions focuses on problem-solving: “If I asked you to tell me how many marketing firms were in this metropolitan area, how would you go about finding that out?” “This is behavioral, but also illustrates their analytical thought,” he says. “It’s not ‘could you’ or ‘would you’ find out, but how.”

Another seeks to uncover a candidate’s ethics, Matheson says: “Say we work in a small office and a salesman comes in. I’ve been trying to avoid him and I tell you I don’t want to talk to him. What would you do?” If the answer is “I’ll tell him you’re not here,” the next question is “What do you do if I come out and the salesman sees me?” “I allow them to dig their hole or come clean,” Matheson says. “How they handle the situation tells a lot about them.”

Civil Engineer Sample Job Description

This civil engineer sample job description can assist in your creating a job application that will attract job candidates who are qualified for the job. Feel free to revise this job description to meet your specific job duties and job requirements.

Civil Engineer Job Responsibilities:

A civil engineer completes construction projects by preparing engineering design and documents; confirming specifications.

Civil Engineer Job Duties:

• Designs construction projects by studying project concept, architectural drawings, and models.
• Prepares engineering design by collecting and studying reports, maps, drawings, blueprints, aerial photographs and tests on soil composition, terrain, hydrological characteristics, and related topographical and geologic data.
• Determines project costs by calculating labor, material, and related costs.
• Prepares feasibility study by analyzing engineering design; conducting environmental impact studies; assembling data.
• Prepares engineering documents by developing construction specifications, plans, and schedules.
• Confirms adherence to construction specifications and safety standards by monitoring project progress; inspecting construction site; verifying calculations and placements.
• Fulfills project requirements by training and guiding operators.
• Maintains operations by enforcing project and operational policies and procedures.
• Provides engineering information by answering questions and requests.
• Complies with federal, state, and local legal requirements by studying existing and new legislation; anticipating future legislation; enforcing adherence to requirements; advising management on needed actions.
• Maintains project data base by writing computer programs; entering data; completing backups.
• Contributes to team effort by accomplishing related results as needed.

Civil Engineer Skills and Qualifications:

CAD, AutoCAD, Design Skills, Site Development, Database Design, Planning, Conceptual Skills, Legal Compliance, Drafting, LISP, Problem Solving

Job Description of a Construction Engineer

Job Description of a Construction Engineer

Construction engineers are key cogs to successfully completing a construction project. The projects that they work on might include designing a drainage and sewage system, constructing a building or developing railroads or roadways. Construction engineers often focus on a specific type of construction project. Some of these specialties are:

• Building - commercial housing or business building
• Electrical - electrical systems
• Mechanical - plumbing, heating or air conditioning
• Highway or Heavy - bridges, airports, highways or water waste

Construction engineers often use computers when producing and analyzing their designs for a project. Their job requires being able to put together a good team to complete a project. Construction engineers need to possess the proper knowledge of estimating, planning and controlling the costs associated with construction projects. They may have an engineering degree and some construction work experience, or they may obtain a bachelor's degree in construction engineering.

Construction engineers do a lot of their work from offices. They also work on location at job sites to visually inspect the work being performed. They usually work 40-hour weeks; however, some jobs require more time based on deadlines or design issues.

Job Duties of Construction Engineers

A construction engineer wears many hats when directing and assessing a project. They will survey the area where the job is to take place, paying special attention to environmental issues or government codes that need to be considered. Before a job starts, they might prepare reports on their findings and consult with others who have a hand in the project. Those parties might include environmental associations, government agencies and third-party construction companies. Construction engineers need to have a strong understanding of building codes, laws and regulations that might affect their projects.

They must estimate and determine the total cost of a project. The associated costs can include:

• Site inspections
• Tests regarding sewage, drainage or elevation levels
• Materials
• Equipment
• Labor costs

Construction engineers manage a variety of parties involved in any given job. They are also responsible for supervising a job to its completion while paying special attention to the allotted budget for the project as a whole. They must have good communication, interpersonal and leadership skills. They should be able to pay meticulous attention to detail. Construction engineers should also have strong analytical, math and problem solving skills.

Career Outlook for Construction Engineers

The job sector of civil engineering as a whole, which included construction engineers, was expected to see a growth of 8% from 2014-2024 (www.bls.gov). Engineering remains one of the highest-paying industries for college graduates. As of May 2015, civil engineers earned an average wage of $87,940 per year.

Construction engineers can work in a variety of areas within the construction industry, including contracting and design. Management training can lead to positions as a cost engineer, a project superintendent, an operations manager or a safety and design engineer.

In summary, construction engineers are a type of civil engineer who design and help implement building projects. A bachelor's degree is the typical minimum requirement, and experience working on construction sites is helpful. Job growth for all civil engineers is expected to be about as fast as all occupations.

you get a job as a chat operator with a live chat program

Chat operator jobs, which typically take the form of customer service or technical support positions, are often listed on online job listing databases, including big-name job search sites such as Monster.com and Indeed.com. There are also some specialized sites that tend to focus on work-from-home or flexible schedule jobs that may include some chat operator positions, including FlexJobs.com. The exact requirements for a chat operator job are likely to vary by position; for example, Apple regularly hires live chat operators to work remotely for their AppleCare chat technical support program, but qualified applicants may need technical support and customer service experience to qualify for one of these jobs, reports RealWaystoEarnMoneyOnline.com.

Some companies may also have requirements governing an applicant's technical proficiency. For example, AppleCare may require applicants to be able to type at least 35 words per minute. Other companies, such as SiteStaff, may require their chat hosts to be based in the United States, according to TheWorkatHomeWoman.com.

Different companies may have special requirements based on their needs. Uber requires its chat agents, called Community Support Representatives, to have good writing skills. On top of this, they must be available for mandatory weekend and evening shifts, which correlates with the times when this taxi-alternative company experiences the most business.

you find magazines that are looking for freelance writers

Search for freelancer positions for magazines on Indeed.com and Monster.com by using the search engines or email job alert services of both websites. You can also send in freelance manuscripts to periodicals that accept and consider unsolicited manuscripts, such as Crisis Magazine and First Things.

Type either "Freelance Writer" or "Magazine Freelance Writer" into the search engines of both Indeed.com and Monster.com, and add a location to narrow your search results. Click the search buttons of both websites to view hits that, in addition to magazine ads, may also include postings for online periodicals and websites. Each entry gives you job details, requirements, prerequisites (such as education and previous experience) and application information.

Crisis Magazine and First Things are two examples of periodicals that accept unsolicited manuscripts on a regular basis. Review these websites, or the website of another periodical that publishes unsolicited manuscripts, to see what topics they publish, and from what viewpoint (such as political or religious) they come from. Both Crisis and First Things have Web pages that outline submission requirements, such as the number of words, whether they pay for submissions and how many submissions they accept at once. They also have email addresses by which you can send submissions for consideration.

you find a job in loan administration

Search for jobs in loan administration on Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com by searching and applying for jobs or by signing up for both websites' email alert services to receive notifications of new loan administration job openings. Also, post your resume on both websites with your contact information for employers to view.

Search for jobs on both websites by entering "Loan Administration" into the search engines, and to limit your search results to a specific region, enter a city, state or ZIP code into the second search boxes within both search engines. Keep the second boxes blank if you want your search to include the entire United States.

Sort results on both websites by relevance or date of posting, and you can also sort on CareerBuilder.com by location or job title. The advanced search engine on Monster.com enables you to further define results by keywords and skills, job type (such as part-time, full-time or temporary) and other factors.

Browse through the list of results, and click on individual entries to view application information. Entries also offer job descriptions, educational requirements and other job features. Entries contain application buttons that enable you to apply either through Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com, or they contain links to the application pages of employer websites.