How to Have a Wonderful Work Week!

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Wake early on Sunday. Take care of personal urgent matters today and reward yourself with a relaxing evening. Creating a personal to-do list will help keep your work-life and balance intact. Planning your work week outfits also never hurts!

 

Hit the Gym in the AM! We’re serious. You’ll feel energized and focused coming into work. Reward yourself by stopping by your favorite coffee shop when headed to work!

 

Arrive Early to Work. Show up 15 minutes early to plan for the rest of the week. This can include your to-do list, meetings, catching up on weekend messages, and tackling your e-mail inbox.

 

Schedule Time Blocks. Plan and leave for meetings with extra time, just in case. Try to also schedule 60-90 minute time blocks for projects and individual tasks.

 

Got any tips to share? E-mail Meliza@targetcw.com!

Manager’s Guide to Preparing for New Hires

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Preparation prior to arrival. Workstation or desk needs (computers, supplies) should be taken care of before the new employee has arrived. Scheduling a lunch with key team members is a great way to integrate your new hire.

 

Extensive onboarding process. Introducing your new hires to every key executive. Teaching them about the departments around them will help with getting acclimated and understanding the scope of company operations.

 

Feedback for future opportunities. Your company’s goal is to continue growth and improvements. A great way to do that is with feedback from new hires on training.

 

Shadowing with mentor or key executive member. Shadowing provides a complete snapshot of their new department and will get them involved quicker.

 

Online resources for continuous growth. If an employee would like to continue to their learning about their job, you have a problem. A great tool to have is an online portal.

 

Have more tips? Email us at meliza@targetcw.com!

How to Have a Wonderful Work Week

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Sleep early on Sunday. Take care of personal urgent matters today and reward yourself with a relaxing evening. Creating a personal to-do list or plan will help keep your work and personal life balance organized. Planning your work week outfits also never hurts either!

If possible, hit the gym first! We’re serious. You’ll feel energized and focused coming into work. Reward yourself by stopping by your favorite coffee shop when headed to work!

Arrive 15 minutes early to work. Plan for the rest of the week. This can include your to-do list, meetings, catching up on weekend messages, and paper inbox as well e-mail inbox.

Schedule time blocks with extra time just in case for meetings.  Try to also schedule 60-90 minute time blocks for projects and individual tasks.

 

What do you do to prepare for the week?

You have (too much) Mail!

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Angry Lady EmailsEmail has become a dominant form of communication in today’s global work environment. Email overload can easily drain a busy HR manager’s day.  Below are a few tips on how to manage your email.

  1. Set Times and Limits on checking email. For me, I check and respond to all emails first thing in the morning (8 am), and again at 11, 1, &4. A typically limit myself to one hour spent responding and saving emails. Constantly checking your email can break your concentration and lower your productivity. I have definitely noticed that I can get more done with this strategy.
  2. Organize emails. Outlook allows you to create folders and “rules” to help with emails you need to retain. Create folders for every project or by subject. To create rules in Outlook 2010, click “File” tab and then “Manage Rules & Alerts”.
  3. Stop reading the same email. While not always possible, try to execute everything required in the email in one shot. This will limit the time spent re-reading emails and time that message is on your to do list. Also evaluate whether you really need to retain the email for future reference or not.
  4. Make Templates. Template emails can be life savers in HR. For example, if you are asked more than once per week how to enroll in the company’s 401k plan. Why not make a template for that? Cut, paste, and done.
  5. Help others help you. Encourage others to email you with relevant subject lines on ideas or resumes so you can easily sort your email.
  6. Facetime for real.  Sure email is easy, but sometimes face to face or phone is faster and better. My rule of thumb is two. If I cannot resolve an email in two responses, my next response is in person or via phone.

 

Reference SHRM HR Magazine May 2013

 

About the Author:

Hannah, our VP of Human Resources, has worked in HR  for over 9 years. Hannah achieved her PHR certification in 2010. She has been a SHRM member since 2006 and LWHRA & NWHRA since 2009. She is a licensed insurance producer in Washington and California. She obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Organizational behavior from University of Missouri.

 

TargetCW Streamlines Employee Onboarding with Adobe EchoSign

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Check out the latest Adobe EchoSign blog post discussing our recent case study with them through the link below.

Blog Post:

http://blogs.adobe.com/echosign/targetcw-streamlines-employee-onboarding-with-adobe-echosign/ 

 

Direct Link to Case Study:

http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/customer-success/pdfs/targetcw-case-study.pdf

 

Corporate Interviewing & Hiring Processes Improving for 2013

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Over the past year, my colleagues and I have worked with numerous companies and based on our needs and experiences, there have been some changes in the way top talent is recruited and hired. Here are five trends that we have seen emerging:

1. Video conferencing is becoming more prevalent. Human resources, as well as the hiring departments, are making video interviewing a standard part of a job search. We attribute this to technological advances, reduced budgets and convenience.  Utilizing video conferencing allows face to face interaction, while reducing travel time and costs.  It also allows for multiple interviews to be scheduled consecutively, regardless of candidate location.

 

2. Companies are now mapping their future talent pool. Companies are always hiring, but are beginning to see the value in continually recruiting and staying in touch with “A” players.  Aside from keeping up with top people, it reduces the getting into a situation where a “B” or even “C” player is desperately hired.  The growing demand and rapidly changing landscape are making it more important to find the talent capable of maximizing your competitive edge.

 

3. Culture-fitting candidates are growing in importance. You may have heard that “people are hired for skills, but fired for fit.” Well, it’s truer now. Consequently, matching a candidate with an organization’s working environment or “culture” has become an essential part of the interview and selection process.  Since each company is unique in their culture, each candidate’s personality must be recognized and fit within a company.   This has become as important as fitting individual job skill sets.

 

4. Mobile platforms play an integral role. The workforce is increasingly expecting communications to be delivered through various mobile methods.  Texting, emailing and even tweeting are invaluable tools in reaching the brightest minds. Because everyone is always on, mobile recruiting is presenting a tremendous opportunity for employers to engage and stay connected with the next generation of talent. At the very least, companies need to ensure their job boards are mobile-friendly.

 

5. The interview and job offer process has been shortened. Access to jobs and people has increased, creating more competition for top candidates.  This created a landscape where candidates expect to know their status shortly after interviewing. The perception has caused many companies to lose out on good people. It has made it increasingly important to reduce hurdles to hiring, such as bureaucracy and politics in the process. Having the whole process mapped out before the first interview allows companies to remain agile and keep momentum while pursuing people.

 

Resources for Job Seekers

Looking for a new job? Check out our Jobs (www.targetcw.com/jobs) page, review our Strategies for Getting a Great Job (text hyperlink to article) and make sure your resume is a clean reflection of what you can bring to an employer, good luck!!

 

 About the Author, Debbie M. Duguay:  25 years of corporate and contingency recruiting experience provide Debbie a unique understanding of the staffing industry.  She began her recruiting career in 1988 successfully recruiting primarily for accounting/finance and sales/marketing positions for a diverse collection of corporations, and was recognized for her ability to find exceptional candidates for the most specialized and hard-to-fill positions.  In 1998, she opened a staffing agency, and for five years she and her staff successfully served the recruiting needs of corporations throughout the nation.  Debbie Duguay merged her search firm with a global recruiting corporation in 2003, and was ranked the “#2 Recruiter in the Nation for 2006”, before joining the incredible TargetCW recruiting team.

Quarterly 401k Open Enrollment is April 1st!

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Have you heard?

It is quarterly open enrollment for TargetCW’s 401k Plan – a company sponsored retirement savings plan designed to help you prepare for retirement. Our plan offers many unique advantages not available through other types of savings plans. You must be employed a minimum of 60 days to enroll. The deadline to enroll for the second quarter is April 1st.

Learn more about our plan at : http://www.targetcw.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94&pop=pop

  • To enroll online, go to http://www.nationwide.com/retirement-plan-provider.jsp
  • Select, Get Started now and enter case # 361-80417
  • Then click on the employer name: TargetCW and then Enroll now.
  • You will then follow each page providing your personal information, fund selections, and beneficiary.
  • Please print your beneficiary form and email to benefits@targetcw.com or fax to 619-704-7799.

We hope you have a great day!

Top 4 Industries Hiring in 2013

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2013 is off to a very positive start. In the last few months we’ve seen an increase in new job openings in familiar industries and some exciting re-emerging industries ramping up again.  If you’re seeking work or considering making a change this year you’re not alone.

In fact, one in three employees will be looking for a new gig in 2013. These workers may be on to something, seeing as 26% of hiring managers are looking to employ full-time employees this year, which is up three percentage points from 2012. More employers are also looking to add temp or contract workers, and according to CareerBuilder, nearly half are planning to transition these workers to full-time status this year.

If you’re considering a job search in your current field or a related industry (or thinking about forging a totally new path), there are four hot fields right now that should be on your career radar . . .

1. Energy:  Oil & Gas, Solar, Mining, Transportation

The energy industry offers a wealth of opportunity for job seekers. In fact, the solar industry has experienced a 13.2% employment growth rate over the last twelve months, compared to a 2.3% growth rate in the economy overall. Additionally, the oil industry has led to 1 million of the 2.7 million jobs created since 2002.

Although six of the eight most-filled new jobs in this industry are engineering-related, more than 30 states in the U.S. saw oil and gas support employment positions rise by at least 50% over the past ten years, reports USA Today. These include jobs in freight trucking and manufacturing, as well as field hands and supervisors–positions that may require little related experience in the industry.

2. Construction & Real Estate

In 2013, home prices and sales are expected to rise, spurring an increase in homebuilding and construction. Housing starts, for instance, are expected to go up 24% this year—residential and private construction starts are estimated to equal $483.7 billion.

The activity in this sector will lead to improvements in construction employment, as well as boost activity for real estate agents and related professionals. In December alone, 30,000 construction jobs were added, presaging a great start for job seekers in this field in 2013. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that employment for real estate agents will grow 16% from 2008 to 2018.

3. Healthcare

Two factors are driving this industry’s boom. For one, America’s population is living longer. Aside from the expected medical costs associated with aging and the elderly, the American Hospital Association estimates that more than 37 million boomers will be dealing with a chronic condition, like arthritis or diabetes, by 2030.

The second reason: The Affordable Care Act will lead to nearly 35 million more people in the healthcare system, creating a shortage of trained healthcare professionals and physicians. Job postings for healthcare positions on one major employment site rose 13% during a 12-month period ending in June 2012.

While many healthcare positions require a great deal of expensive training and education, home health and personal care aides require less training. From 2010 to 2012, over 116,000 home health care positions were created–and employment for these positions is estimated to rise 70% over the next seven years.

4. Technology

This technology industry will continue to provide a abundance of employment opportunities in 2013, according to Fox Business. According to a new Dice Report, which tracks requested skills on job postings, software development “is beyond compare” in today’s tech job market. Dice points out that many companies are seeking developer candidates for non-engineer positions because they could be better project managers for various products.

Employers are also hot for applicants skilled in open-source programming languages like Python and Ruby. Both, the report says, have hit “all-time highs in six of the 10 months of 2012.”

Additionally, 27% of hiring managers plan to employ information technology specialists in the next year.

Resources for Job Seekers

Looking for a new job? Check out our Jobs Page on our website, http://www.targetcw.com/jobs.html, review our Strategies for Getting a Great Job and make sure your resume is a sparkling reflection of what you can bring to a new employer!!

Good luck!

 

UPDATE: San Jose Ordinance to Increase Minimum Wage

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Do you have employees working within the city limits of San Jose? If so, they may be getting a pay increase on Monday. A new minimum wage ordinance passed by San Jose voters in November 2012, goes into effect Monday March 11. This ordinance requires that employees working within the city limits of San Jose receive a minimum wage of at least $10 per hour. The ordinance allows for the minimum wage to increase annually beginning Jan 1, 2014 based on cost of living.

 

The ordinance requires employers to post a new wage ordinance. You can locate the workplace poster on San Jose City’s website at http://www.sanjoseca.gov/index.aspx?NID=3491.