In many ways, it is getting harder and harder to find the perfect fit for your business if you are hiring for an engineer. It seems that nowadays there are far more jobs in the engineering employment market than there are qualified candidates.

However, there are many features of social technology that your company can be using right now to draw in the right engineering candidates. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other sites are all helping people promote their assets and network with other professionals. In particular, LinkedIn is the top dog when it comes to the professional social media site people are using the most.

Use LinkedIn to Recruit Engineers

With close to 200 million users on LinkedIn as of 2013, the site is making it possible to reach those hard to find candidates with just a few clicks of the mouse. The ability to look for jobs and actually land them has made LinkedIn such a valuable resource to the engineering job market.

LinkedIn offers the capabilities to grow your network, both for the individual and company, which results in excellent advantages when looking for new job candidates or industry information. LinkedIn also has polls, surveys, and discussions that engage members and networks to help them build stronger bonds. Industry news is shared, company updates are given, and the latest job openings are passed around networks like fire within just minutes of posting.

Every week, professionals average 1 to 3 hours on the LinkedIn social media site. With this window of time, it is crucial that you are posting a continuous feed of insights, news, polls, data, information, and job listings on your LinkedIn profile so as to ensure you are seen when they are on the site. There are tools that work with LinkedIn and other social media sites that can post your status updates automatically for you, so you aren’t tied to your computer around the clock.

Job seekers peruse LinkedIn looking for any and every resource they can find that will give them that perfect opportunity they are looking for. With this being said, LinkedIn Groups are essential to the job seeker, and engineering professionals that are looking for jobs are signed up with them so you need to be involved in them as well.

The benefits of using social technology for recruiting engineers are really unlimited, but some of them include being able to invite applicants directly to your group, reaching all group members weekly via the Send Announcement tool. You can even invite your suppliers to the group to share information. Your group can be used to get referrals, applications, and comments, enabling your business or career to do many things, including website promotion.

It is critical to understand more about the engineering professional on LinkedIn in order to get them in your job applicant’s pool. When job seekers on LinkedIn see an engineering role they are interested in, they generally do 1-3 things.

1. Follow the company on LinkedIn.
2. Try to connect with the hiring manager via a request.
3. Join the LinkedIn group for that company’s career opportunities

If your company is not using LinkedIn to attract engineering candidates, then it should be. The social media site is heavily populated with qualified engineers, and should be utilized for your job hiring needs.

If you are looking for more resources to attract top engineering talent, contact the staffing experts at Venteon today!

If you surf the waters of the World Wide Web long enough you’ll find plenty of advice on how to handle accounting interviews. Unfortunately, most of these articles are about the person seeking an accounting position rather than the one interviewing eager candidates to fill the position. However, there are a few things you can do that will help you conduct an outstanding accounting interview as long as you put them into practice as an employer.

Understand the Assignment Requirements

It’s nearly impossible to fill a position adequately if you don’t fully understand the position you’re filling. When it comes to accounting, you need to know the specifics of the position being filled and what kind of person excels in this particular position. Not all accountants are good tax accountants. There are many different types of accountants and personalities that make some accountants great while others are only mediocre. When you’re interviewing, you want to be able to quickly spot the people who have the potential to be truly great while skipping over those who will plug through day after day without delivering standout results for your company or your clients.

Ask Appropriate Questions

Once you know the ins and outs of the position you’re working to fill, it’s time to create a list of relevant accounting questions. While questions about the job itself are vitally important, you definitely want to hire an accountant who knows his stuff, there are other questions you need to ask that will provide important insight to the nature of the person you’re interviewing. For example, someone who enjoys crafting as a hobby is generally very detail oriented – a good match for an accounting position. Questions about hobbies and interests reveal as much about accounting candidates as questions about skills and education if you know what to look for when it comes to answers.

Familiarize Yourself with Current Human Resource Laws

There are many different criteria available to help weed out the pool of potential employees. However, discriminating against a candidate due to race, religion, national origin, sexual preference or gender can land you and your business in a lot of legal hot water. Understand how these employment laws relate to your interviewing skills.

Finding the Perfect Employee

That is something that’s simply too big to look for. What you need to find is a person who has the right set of skills and personality to be a good match for your accounting needs. Perfection is a noteworthy goal. But, when you need to hire someone you can’t always afford to wait around for perfection when someone who is skilled, trainable, and motivated can still get the job done.

Giving an interview isn’t nearly as difficult as you may believe it to be. The most important thing to make an interview truly great is to be a good listener throughout the interview process. Nervous candidates often make telling reservations if you let them do enough of the talking. Look to Venteon financial staffing for your new hires.

For decades, human resource managers have recognized the key to success starts with the people – or human capital management as it’s often referred to. The concept of leading people through the ups and downs in business, while doing what it takes to preserve the company values and mission are the foundations of successful HR leadership. Yet, in an ever-changing engineering industry, this becomes challenging as various skill sets phase out and are replaced with new engineering techniques and technology.

The questions that keep many engineering company leaders up at night include:

• How can HR manage well through a changing atmosphere, yet still retain good employees and productivity levels?
• Is the engineering organization as flexible as it can be to keep up and stay ahead of important industry changes?
• Do my engineering employees have what it takes to lead my company into the next century strong?

While there is not much that can be done about change (which is an inevitable part of the engineering world) there are some ways to efficiently handle change management and remain competitive.

1. Realize that you must always be thinking “what’s next?” – As a leader, it’s up to you to see what’s coming down the pipe in your business. Be sure to stay in touch with your industry through networks and associations.
2. Continue to develop your engineering employees through succession planning. Today’s talent is tomorrow’s leadership. Take the time to regularly assess the skill-sets on your team and design development programs around the key skills needed for future success.
3. Give your employees a stable foundation on which to build their dreams. Create a mission statement and remind employees often of how this helps you to navigate all changes. This can provide a compass from which to build your business.
4. Encourage collaboration, technology and connectivity in the workplace. The use of social networking and more open work spaces can propel your engineering firm into greater levels of innovation and success.
5. Recruit and hire the best entry level engineers in the industry. Make sure your recruitment team knows what critical skills are needed to get the job done well. Consider the advantages of using an outsourced recruitment strategy, like working with Venteon technical staffing, to get the best contractors on board.
6. Convert to agile project management tools and processes. Change will always be a factor in engineering, so shift your project management to that of an agile work process. This will help your business to adjust to changes as they come more effectively.

There is little doubt that having the top data analytics talent on your side is big business. In fact, this is one of the most interesting fields in the job market today. There is incredible demand for qualified professionals in data analytics but there is a significant shortage of professionals to fill those positions. Because this field is becoming an important part of business decision making, there is a good deal of competitions for those people viewed as the top talent in the field.

Is There Really a Shortage of Data Talent?

Some experts believe that by 2018, the United States will be facing a significant shortage of talented analytics professionals. These professionals will be unavailable to companies who want to use big data. As many as 140,000 to 190,000 positions could go unfilled. That does not account for the 1.5 million managers and analysts who will have the knowledge and skill to take the analytic data and use it to make effective decisions within the business.

Those companies able to land top talent could see operating margins increase by as much as 60 percent. Many businesses are realizing this need and, as a result, are taking the time to find the best talent in the field. The effects of not having the right professionals could be astounding with product launch setbacks and various project delays likely in many organizations as a direct result.

Why Is This a Problem?

There are some factors in the market demanding this need for talent. The explosive growth in big data is one of them. The amounts of data being collected has never been larger. And, 72 percent of businesses plan to increase spending on business analytics, therefore pushing that data number even higher.

One key component of the problem in finding this talent is that many schools and universities do not have programs in place yet to teach the skills necessary to fill these positions. Even worse, many developing countries are more likely to create the graduates needed than the US is simply because there are degree fields available in those areas.

Overcoming Staffing Limitations

For those businesses that do not want to be struggling to fill such positions, time is of the essence. Having a plan to find the right mixture of IT expertise and analytical skill is necessary.

• Know the strength of talent you are looking for so you know which skills you need to hire for right now and in the future.
• Look for those with top skills. This is likely to be individuals with data experience, basic statistics, and creative problem solving.
• Look for those with great education foundations including in the areas of social sciences, market research, and advanced statistics.
• Take advantage of data and IT staffing agencies, such as Venteon, to provide on-demand data and IT specialists to fill key assignments.

It may take working with a consulting service to find the personnel you need. There is significant demand and the competition is high. Hiring and then retaining these talented professionals is critical.

Accounting professionals are all about the numbers, the facts, and the present time. They deal with what is happening now. Does it matter if they think about the long term? It could be a big problem if they don’t. Though it may be harder for you to gauge success and progress in this field as an HR manager, you can and should invest in setting long term goals. Doing so will encourage your employees to progress further in their abilities.

No Incentive Means No Progress in Accounting 

Even with the very detailed thinking of accounting and financial professionals, one thing is very clear. If you do not offer any incentive to improve and grow, no one will. Without any target to aim for, you can expect the person sitting at the desk to do the same thing for the next ten years if you allow them to do so. In fact, you may even see their progress slip and their productivity plummets over time.

Establish Long Term Accounting Goals

The place to start is with your company’s long term goals. Do you have them? You need to if you want to provide goals for your employees. In other words, you need to know which direction your business is heading so that you can tailor the goals you set to those achievements. Take a collective look at your employees, from senior managers to the basic entry level individual. What are your goals for improving and growing the health of the company?

Areas to Focus On in Finance 

As you work to develop these incentives to get your employees thinking long term, consider the following. You may find that refocusing your efforts can make a tremendous improvement not only now but well into the future as well.

• Get rid of unhealthy habits that could be hurting your organization. This includes habits that go against standards like providing clear feedback, addressing problems positively and evaluating on a regular schedule.

• Know your values and prioritize them. What matters to your organization, integrity, respect, your record? Prioritize what’s most important and be sure to communicate this with the group.

• Create simple but meaningful goals. Look long term. Focus on making changes to your business that will achieve those goals. Then, focus on what employees need to do and change to achieve this.

In the accounting and finance world, you may have goals of improving efficiency, aiding productivity and changing the profit margins. However, to make that possible, you need to sharpen employee skills and create individualized goals for each person. It is not an easy task to do, but it can help you to achieve incredible things in the long term. It is possible to get your team to focus on more on the long term goals but to do so you need to make it a company-wide effort. To build your accounting team with employees who see the bigger picture, check out the skilled accounting and finance staff available at Venteon today – in Minnesota and Michigan.

As an IT hiring manager, it is important to know what skills employees have to have. These types of skills enable them to do their job. You should Look beyond that, though. What skills does every CIO want the employees to possess? It is more than just having the basics. Even entry-level managers need to look for some skills that will ultimately define if the employee is hirable and worth investing time and money.

#1 – The Ability to Solve a Problem

Problem solving is one of the most important skills for any IT professional. They need to be able to manage the company’s current setup, find problems, and solve any situations that arise. In addition, they need to do all of this fast. Reconciling problems needs to be a big focus of their job skill set.

#2 – Good Ethics

The world today seems to be focused on unethical behavior. Yet, any CIO will say that they want the exact opposite from the people they hire. They want young IT professionals to be honest, rule-following professionals who can add to the business’s strengths without bringing in conflicts. This also means they need to be tolerant enough to work with a wide range of cultures.

#3 – Communication Skills Are a Must

Communication remains the center point when it comes to being successful on the job. It is no wonder that so many business owners expect incoming professionals to have good communication skills both in writing and orally. Whether it is presenting an oral presentation or just documenting occurrences on a thorough report having the ability effectively to communicate is an important sticking point for anyone brought into the workplace.

#4: Be a Team Player

It sounds so common anymore to say this but it is still one of the most desirable qualities in an individual brought into a company. They need to be able to share information, work with others to achieve objectives and integrate into a diverse environment. IT professionals must be fundamentally good collaborators to do their job effectively and to accomplish the goals of the department.

#5: Understand the Business

IT professionals often need to leverage the needs of the business with the bottom line. In other words, they need to be able to keep the business up to date in technology, monitor the industry and educate the employer on what steps it needs to take to maintain and grow. At the same time, the IT professional needs to have the means to know when investing is a good idea and is truly worth it to the company.

Focusing on the big picture, CIOs expect IT professionals brought into their business to work seamlessly to accomplish the goals of the company. They do not want someone that is going to struggle to fit in. Hiring managers in this field need to focus on the qualities of these professionals beyond just their skillet to ensure they are worth the hire.

Find out how Venteon can help you find the right IT job working for the best CIO.

The job search today is unlike any other throughout history. The technology job seekers, particularly engineers, have many apps at their disposal. When you think about it, the average mobile phone has more processing power than the first rocket we launched into space. One thing is certain. If you, as an employer, want to attract top engineering applicants for your open positions, you need to make sure the word about your job openings is getting out to where the applicants are. These mobile apps are a great start.

Mobile Engineer Job Boards

It’s great if you have one for your company or business. However, those are largely for the applicants who are already coming to you. If you really want to cast a larger net so you can reel in top talent from the engineering pool then you need to make sure your positions are listed on mobile apps for the most popular Internet job search boards and with your engineering staffing agency.

The broader your exposure on these job boards the wider range of potential engineers you’ll bring into your pool. Just remember that they are checking you out just as thoroughly as you plan to check out the people you bring into the fold and create your job listings with that thought in mind.

Social Networking Apps

Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook are the main online sites for social networking. They also all happen to have apps for mobile devices geared toward professionals like engineers. Of the “big three,” LinkedIn is often the most professional and effective for the job search process. It’s also the most heavily relied upon by many engineers hoping to learn more about potential employers.

If you’re not putting the word out about vacancies and openings in your company on these networks and through these apps then you’re missing out on a few potentially extraordinary applicants. Word of mouth has traditionally been the best way to find exceptional talent when positions are available. The World Wide Web makes the old “word of mouth” method seem pale and lifeless by comparison.

Virtual Business Card Apps

There are quite a few options for engineers, and others, when it comes to virtual business cards. The more you have available to you the better if you want to reach out to the widest range of potential applicants.

Some of the most popular choices are: beamMe, SnapDat, Handshake, MyCardFree, and Fliq. The basics of all of them include sharing information with other mobile device users quickly and easily. It works much like the old exchanging of business cards without the pocket clutter and waste of trees.

Technology has brought about a world of change in the job search process for employers and employees alike. Make sure you’re business is in a position to take advantage of these changes as they apply to you and the people you want to bring into the fold.

Did you know that Venteon now offers mobile application support? Be sure to check out our resources online today!

We are living in the heart of the Information Age. This means different things to different people. One unfortunate side effect, in the eyes and minds of many, is the end of privacy as it’s been known before. One way that privacy is becoming more and more obscure is in the employment screening or background check process. Potential employers are checking credit reports, running criminal background checks, and even digging through social media posts.

A 2010 survey conducted by the SHRM (Society for Human Resources Management) discovered that 47 percent of businesses order credit reports as a normal part of the employee pre-screening process. This is a practice that the Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is beginning to take note of. The state of Oregon has already banned this practice and more states are sure to follow.

Some companies have even taken to asking for Facebook passwords as part of the pre-screening process. Have we gone too far? Is there a line in the sand between relevant intelligence gathering and pre-employment screening and gathering too much information? Some politicians believe there needs to be a line in the sand. Many states are proposing legislation at this precise moment that will curtail any intrusive screening processes that may include asking for social media passwords, conducting credit checks or criminal background checks, and using information obtained through forceful “friending” in social media circles in the hiring process. (See SNOPA)

Does it seem like a little bit too much to keep up with? For the average business owner, that’s exactly what it is. Even larger businesses that have HR staff members available to handle the hiring process have more important things to worry with than simply keeping up with swiftly changing laws and employment screening or background checking processes.

The problem is that laws are changing at the speed of technology. It’s almost impossible to keep up with how quickly laws are adapting to catch up with the latest trends in employment screening practice. As a business, it should be your job to focus on the business you do while leaving things like the employment screening process and the conducting of background checks to people who are qualified to perform them quickly and accurately.

Don’t get caught up on the wrong side of changing policies. It can cost your business a lot more than you bargained for. Instead, keep up to date with the latest employment screening tools and technologies in your state. Turn to local professionals to help you find perspective employees that are a good match for the business you run and the corporate image you work hard to project. In the end, you’ll be glad you did.

Need highly skilled, pre-screened candidates? Get in touch with Venteon today!

As a whole, seasoned accounting and financial candidates can be difficult to find. This is for several reasons including the many specialty areas that fall under the accounting umbrella, the low rate of turnover in finance, and the competition from large accounting firms. However, with a creative approach, you can select suitable candidates for placement in high performing accounting and finance assignments.

Here are some unique interview questions to ask when hiring for financial positions.

How would you describe the role of finance in (specific industry)? A candidate should have a fairly good idea of his or her role within the particular industry that work is sought out. Since each industry has specific guidelines and duties designated to financial professionals, this may vary by assignment. Find out what these specifications are, and make sure the candidate has a thorough understanding of what the role entails.

What financial instruments are used for data analysis? There are a great many tools used by finance professionals in their daily work tasks. From accounting software to detailed processes, a finance candidate should have a solid grasp of all the financial instruments to be used to calculate and analyze financial data. Listen for clues that he or she understands the principles of financial management.

Can you explain what a SOX audit is? Every finance and accounting professional should be familiar with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, including the responsibilities and standards this placed on all financial professionals. Make sure your candidate can explain what SOX is and the basics of an audit.

How do your financial credentials/training relate to this assignment? While it may seem a little direct, this is a critical question to ask during an interview because not all financial backgrounds equate to the right fit for a particular assignment. Ask the candidate to provide a reason why the credentials and training he or she has can relate to the job itself.

Can you give an example of a time your knowledge affected the bottom line of your former employer? Sometimes financial staff do not realize how their work affects the organization as a whole. If they do, then they have a better grasp on their abilities and skills that can enhance a company’ growth. Find out where your candidate stands by asking for clear examples.

Where do you see finance and accounting technology going in the near future? This may seem like an odd question to ask a candidate, but it provides insight into the candidate’s long-term career goals. A candidate who is well-versed about accounting technology is generally more passionate about this industry, and therefore wants to stay up to date.

For interviewing and recruiting support when searching for the best finance and accounting professionals, take the time to get in touch with Venteon today.

Hiring the right person to get the job done is a difficult task, whether there is talk of candidate shortages in this field or you just have a critical position to fill.  That’s why so many companies have turned to the practice of hiring short-term contractors before offering them full-time positions. Yet some companies are still reluctant to take this approach.

Here are a few real benefits to this employment practice you might want to keep in mind as you make hiring decisions in the coming year.

The Interview Factor

Some people talk the talk, but cannot deliver when it comes down to the wire. There are many candidates out there who know the right things to say in the interview to get the job, but never seem to make good on that talk when it’s time to roll up their sleeves and do the jobs they’ve been hired to do.

On the other hand, there are plenty of excellent candidates who lack the “people” skills to get the good positions, but are extraordinarily talented in their fields. These people rarely get the opportunity to show off their talents without some serious plugs from professors and former employers who are familiar with their work. Some HR professionals will go for the people person every time without giving the talented candidate a second chance. This may be because they believe a good interview means better skills – a biased approach to hiring.

Hiring a contractor on a trial basis gives the organization as a whole the opportunity to see who has more to offer the company down the stretch. It also allows the management team to determine what candidate will actually perform when project deadlines approach.

Save Money While Testing the Waters

In this economy, every dollar the company can save is important. When hiring contractors, most companies save a great deal of money and resources by not offering benefit packages to the contractors. Companies may choose to pocket the savings or attempt to hire a larger number of contractors for greater productivity while making last-minute decisions about which contractors fit in with the organization. Others like the idea of a replacement guarantee when a contractor does not meet expectations.

An added benefit is the competition factor. When people know they must perform well in order to get the job and that there are other contractors vying for the same position within the company, there is added incentive to perform better. They’ll work harder to show off their talent and abilities more so than even the average new hire who is eager to show off his or her skills.

At the end of the day, companies have much to gain by offering contractor positions and then hiring the cream of the crop. Whether it’s getting the right person to do the job, saving money at a critical time, or some combination of the two, hiring contractors has a lot to offer your organization.

For access to a wide range of temporary contractors in engineering, finance, IT and other fields, be sure to get in touch with Venteon today.